Inferno: Ignisia
by TheJabuticaba
Summary: GiB verse. Sequel to Inferno: Earth. "Kidnapping: normally refers to the action or crime of forcefully taking away and holding somebody prisoner, usually for ransom." It's such a pity that Jay never complies with the norm.
1. Chapter 1 Stowaways

_**Author's Notes: Hi all. I tried to write a long detailed story last time, and it didn't turn out so well. I think I'll stick with 'episodes' of this storyline.**_

_**Also, next time's update will not be this Friday, but probably the next.**_

* * *

**Stowaways**

It was getting ridiculous. No, it was _beyond_ ridiculous. The worms had somehow, against all logic, managed to creep on board the shuttle which had been thoroughly inspected for holes before being prepped for Jay's rescue mission.

Elle pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "I don't even want to know how you four managed to get on board."

The four night crawlers paused long enough in their bickering ("No, Italian Roast is the best!" one argued loudly against another one's cry of "French Roast!") to look at Elle and X, before resuming at the same volume.

"Italian!"  
"French!"  
"Guacamole!"  
"…What?"

Elle could feel her right eye twitch spasmodically. "Enough!" She thundered.

The worms fell silent while looking terrified of the usually even-tempered agent, and even X jumped slightly behind her.

"Cockpit. Now." Elle didn't trust herself to speak full sentences in a level voice.

Almost as if they knew that Elle was mere millimetres from snapping, the four worms scurried into the cockpit without complaint.

Kay glanced away from the ship's controls for a moment. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Kay," Elle finally arrived in the cockpit, her eye no longer twitching, "please tell me we can still turn back and drop off these guys."

Kay remained silent.

"I was afraid of that." Elle sighed, sitting down in the co-pilot's seat. She returned her attention to the worms. "Buckle up, boys. We're about to hit hyperspeed, and I don't fancy scraping worm entrails off the walls."

The worms gulped nervously, and wondered exactly what they were supposed to buckle into.

"Elle," X interrupted as he sat down in the third seat (something Jay had once called 'the co-co-pilot seat') of the cockpit, "stop scaring them."

Elle grunted noncommittally.

X sighed, before getting up and pulling down a fold-out seat, it was really more of a bench, from the back of the cockpit.

The four night crawlers sat down in the seat, and made use of the seatbelts.

Before the agents and worms could enter hyperspeed, a light blinked near Elle's hand. Frowning, Elle turned the radar on. "We've got two incoming projectiles." She watched the blipping dots coming closer.

"Malicious in intent?" Kay asked.

"Not sure." Elle touched the screen of the radar, tapped the closest dot, and various numbers appeared. From where the worms sat, they couldn't make any sense of the numbers.

"It's pretty small." Elle could apparently make sense of the data. "About the size of a…"

"An escape pod?" X suggested, as said object rattled past the ship, followed quickly by a slightly larger pod.

"There's a distress signal coming from the first one." Elle noted.

The three agents shared a long look, before silently reaching a unanimous decision. Jay could wait. She knew what she was doing.

The ship swung around, and zoomed after the two smaller escape pods.

#MIB#

Alpha glared half-heartedly at Jay, who was currently lounging in the co-pilot's seat.

Jay returned the look steadily. "Problem?"

"Other than the fact that you've managed to make me lose a bit of my credibility and also getting rid of my real co-pilot, there isn't a problem." Alpha ground out darkly.

"Not my fault Amber decided to follow Rex in the second escape pod." Jay shrugged. "Besides, what did the Narians offer you anyhow?"

"None of your concern." Alpha sniped. "Are you always this annoying on trips?"

"Only on long ones." Jay answered his question. "Did they offer to give you money or something?"

"How did you know?" Alpha looked away from the controls of the ship to stare at Jay.

"Lucky guess." Jay grinned in a self-satisfied manner.

Alpha didn't dignify her comment with a response. _If you ignore it, it might just go away._

"Are we there yet?"

Alpha sighed.

#MIB#

The second escape pod, the one that didn't have a distress signal, turned tail and fled as soon as Kay fired warning shots at it. Kay watched impassively as it skittered away, before turning his attention to the first escape pod, which was sputtering slightly.

Within minutes, the escape pod was coupled to the MIB spaceship, and the hatch hissed open. Kay wasn't sure who was more surprised – himself or the occupant of the escape pod.

"Well," Kay said finally, "this is a surprise."

Prince Rex blinked, before a barrage of words erupted from his mouth. "He's got Jane. She managed to get me off his ship, and then, Amber came after me. I wasn't sure how to turn on the distress signal, so I just pressed a lot of buttons until-" Rex paused and took a deep breath "-until I saw your ship, and, and, and…"

"Breathe." X suggested. "And speak English."

Rex took another breath, but before he could begin babbling again, Elle took over.

"How did you escape?"

"Jane managed to get me out of there. But she's still on Alpha's ship." Rex answered. "She had a chance to leave too, but she didn't."

_Why would she do that?_ Kay's attention drifted away from Elle's questioning. _Oh, Jay. What are you up to now?_

With a jolt, Kay realised that Elle was speaking to him.

"We can't turn back now." Elle was saying.

"I know." Kay nodded. "It's already been two earth days."

There was only another two days left before Jay would reach the peak of her powers. They had to rescue Jay before her eighteenth birthday. For all Kay knew, Jay might end up defenceless after her outburst of power, as Zeeltor predicted. She would be helpless to anything vaguely dangerous on Ignisia, and Kay would be damned before he let that happen.

Rex watched the two agents' exchange. "Does that mean I get to stay?"

"Unfortunately, yes. X rolled his eyes. _Teenagers._

"We should get going." Elle tugged Rex towards the cockpit, and Kay and X followed her.

#MIB#

Kay laid on his side and listened to the low thrum of the hyperdrive. He had activated it nearly an hour ago, before Elle shooed him out of the cockpit, and told him to get some rest. Kay had been ready to retort and argue that he wasn't tired, and that he was perfectly capable of flying, until Elle had said nine simple words.

"You're no good to Jay if you're half asleep."

With that, Kay had reluctantly handed the controls over to X, and left the cockpit for the small cabin in the back of the ship. However, even as he lay down, his mind was still racing.

He still hadn't figured out _why_ Jay was idiotic enough to stay on a ship with a madman, let alone decide to face her evil relative head on. It made no sense.

Kay sighed, and turned onto his other side, searching for answers and sleep that eluded him with the slipperiness of coffee drenched worm.

It was going to be a long night.

_Although,_ Kay mused wryly, _there's no such thing as night in space._

* * *

_**Up next: Jay arrives on Ignisia.**_


	2. Chapter 2 Are We There Yet?

_**Author's notes: Jay takes to a kidnapping rather well. Also, the boys suffer from a bit of cabin fever.**_

_**And forget the episode idea.**_

* * *

**Are We There Yet?**

"So, you _do _like classical music!" Jay grinned triumphantly. "Wait till X hears about this."

Alpha gritted his teeth, and reminded himself that the Empress of Ignisia wanted Jay _alive_. "So what?" he shot back, a bit defensive.

"It's cool." An expression, not quite a smirk, appeared on Jay's face. "Nothing wrong with being old fashioned." The Not-Smirk turned into a fully-fledged smirk. "Speaking of fashion…" Jay looked meaningfully at the trench coat Alpha was still sporting.

"Shut up." Alpha groused. It was true – the trench coat wasn't the best article of clothing he could have chosen.

Jay merely smiled, and that infuriated Alpha even more.  
"You really are worse than Kay."  
Jay beamed at the praise.

Somewhere, Agent A couldn't help but smile.

#MIB#

"…and then presto!" Neeble was possibly the best story teller in MIB. He paused dramatically.  
"Get on with it." Kay drummed his fingers against the console impatiently.  
"Wait, wait." One of the other worms butted in. "We're getting to the good part."

X wanted to hit his head against something. Hard. Rex made an effort to not fall asleep.

"And then what?" Kay prompted, his voice contained to a low growl. After all, Elle was asleep in the cabin, and Kay had no wish to disturb her from her rest.  
"And then…nothing." Neeble finished in satisfaction, and took a swig of his coffee.  
"Nothing?" Rex jolted awake. "What do you mean, 'nothing'?"

"I mean nothing." Neeble repeated. "There was nothing in the database. No mention of Jay's parents anywhere. No mention of her father, or her mother. Neither of them were MIB agents."

"…What?" X suddenly realised that the worms had misinterpreted their question. "No, we were talking about…" X trailed off. "What were we talking about?"

Kay grimaced. He couldn't remember either, although he had a feeling the conversation had started with something along the lines of whether or not it was considered immoral to date a minor when one didn't know that the other was a minor, and even when the minor was unknowing of this fact herself.

Or in other words, he knew exactly how the conversation had started, and he had no intention of bringing it back up again. He did not need four night crawlers making his private life into public knowledge.

X returned his attention to the co-pilot controls after one last attempt at trying to remember the start of the conversation.

"Are we there yet?" came the familiar squeak of the worms.  
Rex groaned, and buried his face in his hands.

#MIB#

_Mars._ Jay decided. _It looks like Mars. With bushes._ She voiced her thoughts.  
"Ignisia is dying, Jay." Was all Alpha had to say on the matter. "It has been for years."

The two were trudging across the dry sandy landscape of Ignisia, having left the ship behind. The sun glowered from above, and Jay suppressed a shiver despite the sweltering heat.

_Death._ It was all Jay could sense. It was everywhere. The bushes were dying. The sand was dry, dead particles. And the vitality which was so strong, and thrumming on Earth, was absent on Ignisia. Even the planet seemed to have a slow, labouring heartbeat that threatened to sputter and stop completely.

"This ain't right." Jay blurted out.

_I know._ Agent A agreed silently. _I know._

Alpha gave Jay a gentle prod, and she started walking again, towards the city in the distance.

_Please don't let the city be like this desert._ Jay pleaded silently. If she didn't hear some noise, or at least one indication of life soon, Jay had a feeling she would go mad.

Luckily for Jay, the city was slightly more alive – in the sense that wherever she and Alpha went, citizens stopped from their daily business to stare (quite rudely, in Jay's opinion) at the duo. Jay swallowed nervously at all the intense stares, and wondered if she was better off in the desert. It was an odd sight, however. The Ignisians ranged from red to soft yellow to green, but Jay had yet to see a blue flamed one.

"Nervous, are we?" Alpha commented casually.

Jay's expression melted into a flat look. "Keep dreaming."

It was Alpha's turn to smirk. Jay huffed, pointedly ignored Alpha's gleeful look and the now more-than-curious stares from the citizens.

"Let's keep moving, shall we?" Alpha interrupted Jay's staring contest.

#MIB#

If Jay could be defined as vain, then there were no words to describe Araminta. Vain didn't even begin to cover it.

Or maybe Araminta just had a lot of spare time.

The throne room of the palace was decorated with sculptures, each depicting what Jay guessed were the native animals of the planet. Not that Jay actually saw anything beyond the occasion bison (it resembled a cow, if it weren't for the colour changing fur and the small bursts of fire that appeared in its nostrils whenever it breathed) and the flies circling the previously said animal.

The floor below Jay was made of a polished black rock, with the occasion white flake imbedded in it. Jay noted that there wasn't any carpet – it was probably burned up by the Ignisians walking on it.

Araminta was seated at the end of the throne room, casually examining her nails.

"Like what you've done with the place." Jay commented sarcastically as she and Alpha stopped at the foot of the pedestal. "But a polished floor? Really?"

"Aren't you the comedian." Araminta rose from her seat, and looked unimpressed at her niece. "But we're not here to talk about that."

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Jay's voice hadn't lost the sardonic edge, "how about we skip straight to the part where you let Zed go, and I won't kick your ass?"

"Watch your insolence!" Araminta glowered down, using her elevation to her advantage.

_Pathetic._ Jay hid a snigger.

Then, the annoyance melted away from the Empress' face. "As I was saying, I believe we have some negotiation to do."

"I believe," Jay mimicked Araminta's formal tone, "that the original arrangement was that you'd let them go if I came to Ignisia quietly."

"And yet you created quite the mess with Prince Rex."

"But here I am." Jay shrugged carelessly. "I got here, didn't I?"

"Jaime," Araminta descended down the steps of the pedestal, "you might be a person who lives by her word of honour-"

"And you're not?" Jay suggested flatly, raising an eyebrow. _I __**so**__ should have seen this coming._

Araminta looked annoyed by the interruption. "Do you mind?"

"Sorry." Jay took a page out of Zeeltor's book and grinned broadly.

Araminta let out a light snarl. "I don't see how you were able to deal with her, Alpha."

Deep inside Alpha, A sniggered. Alpha remained stoic, determined to not let the grin of _I-did-my-suffering-now-it's-your-turn_ appear.

Araminta glared at her minion, as if she read his mind. Which she probably did, considering her mind control over him.

"As I was saying," Araminta continued glaring at Alpha, "I am unfortunately not a woman of honour-"

"Oh, that's alright." Jay smiled brightly, determined to hide the settling pit of dread. _Come on, act as Zeeltor would._ "I saw that coming anyway. So, when are you going to kill me? Give me all the details."

It worked. Araminta frowned, and even Alpha looked confused.

The empress of Ignisia shook herself. "You will be executed publically."

"Awesome. When?"

_Oh, she's morbid._ Araminta continued, ignoring Jay's cheerful tone, "In two days, at the Solar Solstice."

_Two days._ Jay racked her brains. There was something important about two days… _Now, I've been on the spaceship with Alpha for two days. And now I have another two days. Four days in total. Hm…_

There was something important. What was it-

"Any questions?" Araminta snapped testily. _That little #$%^'s up to something. I know it._

"Shut it." Jay muttered. "I'm trying to think."

"What a miracle." Alpha noted dryly.

Suddenly, Jay looked up at her aunt. "Two days, did you say?"

"Yes." Araminta answered curtly. _How am I even related to this- this-_

A smile spread slowly over Jay's face. "Two days."Internally, Jay was cheering, and doing a jig of victory.

"Yes, and in these two days you will be held in the cells of the palace." Slightly put off by the evil-looking grin, Araminta looked away from her niece and nodded to Alpha. "Now, in case you decide escape-"

Alpha pulled out flat cylindrical device, and pressed a button on the top. A scanner popped out at the bottom, and before Jay could react, Alpha held the scanner at her.

_Beep._

"What was that?" Jay demanded, eyeing the device warily as the scanner withdrew, and a small light lit up on the top of the device.

"It's a little Ignisian invention." Araminta explained, as if she was talking to a small child. "It's a DNA bomb. And it's been locked onto yours."

"What's it supposed to do, follow me around?" Jay suggested sarcastically, briefly indulging in the fantasy of the small cylinder trundling after her on wheels, like that little droid from Star Wars. R2D2, or something like that.

"No, that would be your job." Araminta grinned sadistically. "You see, if you step outside of a two metre radius of the bomb, it will explode within a second, and take out everything in a ten metre radius."

"Ah." _I see._ But Jay wasn't worried. It didn't really matter that they had just attached a bomb to her, for she had remembered just what was _so_ important in two days.

When she had left earth, it had been five days.

When she woke up in Alpha's ship, it was the beginning of the fourth day.

When she arrived on Ignisia, it was the end of two earth days.

And in another two days, at the Solar Solstice, it would be no days.

She would turn eighteen on the Solar Solstice.

Wasn't life just _fun_?

But Jay refused to just sit around waiting. No, she was going out sightseeing.

"Well, in that case," Jay began casually as she grabbed hold of the DNA bomb, "I'm afraid I must decline."

Then the bomb dropped with a clatter to the floor. Araminta's eyes bulged. "No! Don't you dare-"

Jay gathered her willpower, blasted the bomb away from her and propelled herself in the opposite direction at the same time with a strong burst of oxygen. One second later, when Jay had flown just out of the ten metre radius, the bomb exploded.

Jay landed on the ground with a soft "Oomph." She watched as the polished marble floor below her seemed to glow, before cracks appeared, crawling all over the floor of the throne room. Too late, she realised what was going to happen.

"Oh, no."

The cracks suddenly glowed brightly, and then the floor _exploded._ As Jay was flung into the air, she distantly heard her aunt.

"You idiot! That's a Mosterlite floor!"

_Mosterlite, huh?_ Jay filed away the name for future reference as she hurtled back down to the ground. Shooting out short bursts of blue flames, Jay broke her fall, and landed on the jagged edges of the once pristine floor. The smoke cleared slightly, and through the gaping hole of the floor, Jay caught sight of a dusty underground… tunnel?

She didn't wait around for the rest of the smoke to clear. She dropped into the tunnel, and ran as fast as she could. Jay couldn't care less about _why_ there was a tunnel, let alone _where_ it led.

As far as she was concerned, Jay had no wish to be within fireball-range when Araminta recovered.


	3. Chapter 3 Tunnel

_**In which Elle gets a bit of target practice, tunnels are really dusty, and Kay may not be that much of a great driver after all.**_

* * *

**Tunnel**

After running a good distance down the tunnel, Jay stopped long enough to light up a small bluebell. The light of the throne room had long since faded, and a little light wouldn't hurt.

The blue light flickered, and Jay slowed down to a fast walk. She let out a slow breath, and took a deep breath in, only to regret it almost immediately.

"Oh, man," Jay coughed, choking on the dust, "Araminta _really_ needs to improve on her housekeeping."

It was then that Jay heard the sound. It was distant, and soft, but it was still enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. It was a wailing shriek.

Jay whipped around, stared at the direction the noise had come from, and spent a few seconds hoping that she had imagined it. Her hopes were dashed to pieces when another wail, this time, larger in both volume and eeriness, broke the silence. Her instincts told her it was probably something she shouldn't face, and it was more of a flight than fight situation.

Jay turned and ran, blue flames brighter, lighting up her pathway. The tunnel sloped downwards, and the floor was dotted with chunks of smoothed over rocks. Dodging and weaving her way through, Jay heard yet another shriek, and she winced at the pitch.

**Over here.**

Jay nearly tripped over a slightly larger stone than the rest. _Huh? Who said that?_

**Over here.** The voice repeated, with more urgency. **Hurry.**

Jay skidded to a stop, and found something tugging at her attention in the darkness. Tentatively, she took a step towards the tug, and was rewarded with the sight of a small hole in the wall.

**Get through here. Hurry up.**

Although every sensible part of her questioned the reliability of mysterious voices, Jay shrugged. Whatever was in there was probably better than facing the shrieking thing that was coming down the tunnel.

Hands still lit, Jay pulled at the hole, loosening the small rocks around it until a Jay-sized hole appeared. _Here goes nothing._ And Jay pulled herself through the hole.

After a bit of wriggling (the hole wasn't quite large enough) Jay landed in an ungraceful heap on the other side. "Ow." Jay muttered, and pushed herself off the dusty ground.

**Quick, put your light out.**

"If you insist-" Jay began to say, before another shriek, much louder than the ones before, interrupted her. Jay's hands lost the light even as she flattened herself against the wall and held her breath.

_What is that thing?_ Jay wondered to herself.

**It's a wraith. **The voice put in helpfully.

Jay blinked, not having expected the voice to answer her. Before she could ask another question, a bone-chilling cold swept through Jay. She clamped a hand to her mouth, and barely managed to muffle the gasp of shock. Jay was tempted to close her eyes, and reach out with her mind to see just what was on the other side of the wall, before the same voice stopped her.

**Don't. It will sense you.**

And so, Jay kept her eyes wide open as she waited for the cold presence to leave. Then, she felt the ice ebb out of the air, and the usual dry heat of the planet returned slowly. Jay let out a sigh of relief.

_What was that?_ Jay asked again.

**A wraith.** The voice repeated. **A creature of darkness. It can be summoned by natives of this planet.**

_That's nice._ Jay wondered if the voice would pick up on her sarcasm.

**You're welcome.** The voice countered, just as sarcastically.

Jay snorted, before shaking her head. _Who are you? Or what are you?_

**They call me Fyre.**

#MIB#

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." X eyed the flashing warning on the dashboard. "Our hull's been breached."

Elle frowned. "If that keeps up, we'll tear apart before we can land on Ignisia."

Right on cue, the whole ship shuddered. The worms let out terrified squeaks.

"Got any ideas?" X raised his voice to be heard over the alarm.

"Just one," Kay answered, "but you won't like it."

"Better than tearing apart." X replied. "Spill."

Kay told X his plan, and he was right.

X didn't like it. In fact, it was probably safe to say that he hated it. "Are you crazy?! Dislodge the outer shielding completely? If by some miracle we _don't_ break apart, we'll be sautéed alive!"

"Not if we time it right." Elle drawled. "Are you quite finished?"

"No-" X began.

"Good." Elle interrupted, unbuckling her seatbelt and slapping on a wrist watch space suit. "I'll keep contact through the com link."

Metal armour expanded from the wrist watch until Elle was safely encased inside. "Wish me luck, boys." Then the blonde woman made her way towards the airlock.

The door swung shut and sealed with a hiss. Behind her, the hatch that led to the outside world opened slowly, and Elle activated the magnetic boots of the suit. Satisfied that she wasn't about to float away, Elle climbed out of the hatch.

"I'm sending the weak points over." Kay's voice crackled over the earphone.

Elle raised an eyebrow when small targets appeared over her faceplate, and indicated the spots on the hull. "That's a new feature." She muttered as she took aim.

"Zeeltor's additions." X answered her. "He said there was an AI in there somewhere as well…"

Four well placed shots later, Elle reported to Kay. "There's just one last weak spot left. When do you want me to hit it?"

"In twenty-seven seconds."

Elle smiled. "Very precise. Care to give me a count down?" She watched as the planet loomed closer. The ship around her started to heat up as it entered Ignisia's atmosphere. Elle eyed the small patch of vegetation the ship was currently on course for. She shrugged it off – she had plenty of faith in Kay's driving, and she doubted that he would let X take the wheel now.

There was a short moment of silence, before Kay spoke again. "Twenty seconds…ten…five, four, three, two, one."

As Elle shot the last weak spot, she noticed three very important things. One, the patch of vegetation was a forest. Two, she was standing on the outer shielding, which was about to fall off the ship. Three, the tops of the previously mentioned forest brushed dangerously close to the bottom of the ship, which brought on a question on just how thin the atmosphere was.

Only two of the three things had a consequence. As the outer shielding fell off, Elle went with it. The driver (Elle immediately lost a lot of her faith in Kay's driving skills) seemed to notice that he was flying too low, and swerved up, narrowly avoiding losing the bottom of the ship to a large tree.

Of course, Elle only noticed all that in retrospect. Right now, she was a bit preoccupied with falling to her death.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

#MIB#

_You know, this feels weird._ Jay thought. _I'm thinking to a mysterious voice in my head._

**And?**

_And the worst part is that it's talking back. And it has a name, too._ It was times like these that Jay worried for her own sanity and marvelled at her own imagination at the same time.

**Really? I hadn't noticed…..** The voice decreased in volume, until it sounded like it was far away before it vanished completely.

Jay continued to plod down the dusty tunnel, shadows dancing from the flickering fire she used to light her way. When the voice made no attempt to reappear, Jay wasn't sure if she should have been relieved that it was gone, or worried that it left. As she continued to walk, she considered going back to the voice, just for the sake of company.

All thoughts vanished when the tunnel dipped lower still, and rounded into a sharp bend. It was then that Jay realised that there was an echo to her footsteps. Except it didn't sound like echoes.

She stopped, and her ears strained for the sound. She heard the soft sound of another pair of footsteps.

_Hoo boy._

Jay swallowed nervously, stopped concentrating on her fire-lit hands, and the flames spluttered before dying.

There was someone else in the tunnel and, whoever it was, it was coming from around the bend. Jay knew that the tunnels provided little cover, so the best option was to fight head on, instead of running.

Taking a deep breath, Jay inched along the wall until she reached the bend, and she waited silently as the footsteps got closer.

Jay sprang out from her ambush with a war cry. She wasn't expecting the other person to shriek in terrified horror.

"Aiyee!" the girl with green flames screeched at the top of her voice.

And quite frankly, Jay wasn't sure who was more scared.

#MIB#

Trees were nice.

They had large, leafy branches that stretched towards the sky, green foliage glistening in the sun. Often, there would be animals living in the tree, if it was large enough. Say, about the size of a three-storey house.

The sarquokka was an odd creature. It had large yellow unblinking eyes, with large bat-like ears, and light blue fur that covered it from nose to tail. It looked like a mix of a squirrel and a bat. Either way, Elle mused it could fit under the category of 'cute' under usual circumstances.

Of course, Elle had no idea that it was called a sarquokka, let alone the fact that it was very territorial and quite carnivorous. She was, however, aware of a voice repeatedly calling into her ear.

"…Elle? Do you copy?"

Elle groaned, and caught sight of the sarquokka glaring at her. "Shoo!" Elle made a waving motion with one hand, and struggled to free herself from the vines wrapped around the trees. The sarquokka chattered angrily and hissed, swiping a clawed four-fingered paw at Elle.

There was a stunned silence from the other end of the earphone. Then- "I beg your pardon?"

"Sorry," Elle apologised quickly, "I wasn't talking to you, Kay." Elle glanced at the sarquokka and caught a glimpse of tiny, but sharp teeth. "Please tell me you're not a meat-eater."

The sarquokka hissed again, its blue fur puffing up, making it look like a ridiculous ball of blue fuzz.

"Am I missing something?" Oddly enough, Kay sounded amused.

"I'm being menaced by a blue ball of fuzz." Elle deadpanned.

X let out a snort of amusement. "I take it you're still in one piece?"

"More or less." Ignoring the apoplectic animal, Elle tore free of the vines, and nearly swung into the trunk. Twisting wildly, Elle barely missed the trunk, and instead, hit one of the thick branches.

"Ooof!" Elle clung to the branch, regained her breath and pulled herself onto it. Grimacing, Elle sat back against the trunk and checked her suit for damage.

"What just happened?" Rex asked, having heard her grunt.

"Nothing." Elle said quickly. "Where are you guys?"

"We're circling above the forest." Kay's voice answered her.

"Any idea where you are?" X sounded almost anxious.

"I'm in a tree."

"Oh, you're hilarious." Elle could almost hear the eye-roll in X's voice.

"How long do you think it'll take for you to find me?" Elle asked as she examined the tree for a way to get down.

"Given the size of this forest?" X paused, trying to work out how long it would take, before he gave up. "Quite a while."

"Jay might not have 'quite a while'." Elle muttered as she finally found a safe place to step down to.

"What?! We're not leaving-"

"Go." Elle interrupted X. "It'll take too long. My suit's still in working condition, and I can track you guys down. I'll be fine."

There was a short pause before Kay spoke up. "Where are we going to meet?"

"Wherever you land." Elle landed softly on the ground, triumphant that she had descended the tree without too many mishaps.

"I'll leave Rex and the worms on board." Kay said finally, ignoring Rex's protest of "Hey!".

"Roger that." Elle grinned. Then she frowned. "Say, X…"

"Yes?"

"Any idea how to activate the Artificial Intelligence you were talking about?"

X's answer of "Nope." was cut off by Kay's answer of "Yes. The second button on the left."

"Thanks." Elle pressed the button on her watch. "I'll stay in touch."

"Good luck." Then the connection fizzled, and Elle was left by herself. At least, until the AI kicked in.

"Ah, Agent Elle." It said in perfect imitation of Zeeltor's tones. "How may I be of assistance?"

Elle groaned. Leave it up to Zeeltor to make an electronic version of himself.

* * *

_**If there's anything that doesn't make sense, feel free to ask. Or if it confuses a lot of people, I'll make modifications to the story.**_


	4. Chapter 4 History

_**Author's Notes: The name 'Jabbanoyoda' is a reference to the name Jay comes up with in 'The Undercover Syndrome'.**_

* * *

**History**

"Your name," the green-flamed Ignisian began sceptically, "is 'Jabbanayoda'?"

"No, no," Jay shook her head, "it's Jabba**no**yoda."

"Well, it's the weirdest name I've ever heard." The girl shrugged.

"Really?" Jay retorted. "And Cha'ron isn't weird? What kind of name is that, anyway?"

"You still haven't told me why you were down here in the first place." Cha'ron dodged the question.

"I can say the same for you."

It had come to a rocky start. By the time Cha'ron had stopped screaming and was in the process of taking another deep breath, Jay's nerves had been rubbed raw, and a quick plea of "Please don't!" had shocked Cha'ron into stopping mid-breath.

After Jay reassured the Ignisian girl that she wasn't dangerous and only wanted to get out of the tunnels, Cha'ron had reluctantly offered to show Jay the way out.

Right now, Jay's 'tour guide' was walking in sullen silence. Jay sighed to herself. If there was anything she found annoying, it was grumpy people. (Kay notwithstanding. She made an exception for him.)

Jay glanced at Cha'ron, and blinked in surprise when she realised that the girl was staring at her with something akin to awe.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Cha'ron asked.

_No, of course I am._ Jay was tempted to say._ I'm not a glow-stick like you are, I have no bloody idea where I am -_ Instead, she responded with a cheerful "Nope!"

"I thought so."

_Duh._

Jay found her attention wandering, and her gaze landed on the wall. It looked like a mural had been there previously, but had been worn away by time. Jay could make out seven figures painted on the wall, surrounding what appeared to be a large campfire. Below the image, there were small symbols inscribed.

"Say," Jay lit up her hands to get a closer look at the symbols, "what's this?"

Cha'ron paused in her steps, then she clicked her fingers. Jay watched in amazement as a small spark followed the click and a fireball flared up from the spark. The fireball hovered for a second, before floating to where Jay was.

"What's what?" Cha'ron was oblivious to Jay's amazement.

"How…how did you do that?" Jay had forgotten about the mural. She swallowed and started again. "How did you do that firebally-thingy?"

"What?" Cha'ron gestured at the fireball, "You mean this?" She waved her fingers in the air, and the fireball jerked around, as if it was connected to Cha'ron's fingers by invisible threads.

Jay nodded numbly. "Yes. That."

Cha'ron let out a chuckle of disbelief. "This?" She took one look at Jay's expression and laughed again. "This is something all _toddlers_ can do."

Jay wondered if there was an insult in there somewhere. "Well, I can't."

"But you're not Ignisian."

"Actually, I am." Jay corrected. "Partly, at least."

Cha'ron was silent for a moment. "Well, that explains your firepower."

_Well, duh. Again._ Jay groused silently.

"What was it that you wanted to show me anyway?" Cha'ron was now looking at the wall.

"This." Jay pointed to the mural. "Does it show a story or something?"

Cha'ron scrutinised the painting. "Well," she trailed off uncertainly before reading off the small letters inscribed at the bottom of the mural, " 'The Council of Seven.' I think."

"You think?" Jay raised an eyebrow, mentally thanking Kay for teaching her the art of looking sceptical. "Can't you read?"

"Hey," Cha'ron snapped, looking hurt, "no one else can read."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Cha'ron growled, "reading is a lost art."

Jay looked slightly guilty. "Sorry." Then a thought occurred to her. "So, that's what you're doing down here."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're here to read the murals, aren't you?" Jay grinned.

"I-" Cha'ron looked flustered. "Of course not!"

"Oh, you totally are!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

#MIB#

It was a rather abrupt meeting.

One ago second, Elle had been picking her way carefully across the jungle, with Zeeltor the AI chattering in her ear, giving her random tid-bits of information, and in the next second, she stepped onto empty air and found herself tumbling head over heels down a particularly steep slope.

By the time she recovered, she found herself face to face with a surprised looking, but almost toddler sized Ignisian. Elle hoped Ignisians in general could speak English. "Uh, hi."

The little Ignisian continued to stare.

"I don't' suppose you could show me the fastest way to get out of this forest?"

Elle's query was met with yet another blank look.

Elle sighed. "Do you speak English?"

Still no answer, at least, not from the Ignisian.

"Perhaps he _can't_ speak." Zeeltor the AI suggested quietly. "I've been running diagnostic scans, and it would appear that he doesn't have any vocal cords. Not in the human sense, at least. Maybe he makes noise in some other way?"

"Oh." Elle looked at the Ignisian. "Any idea if he can understand me?"

"None whatsoever." The computer sounded too amused for Elle's liking. Elle made a mental note to have a few words with Zeeltor (the original) when she got back to earth.

"Well, I'll be going now." Elle addressed the Ignisian as she shook loose of the vegetation she had ripped from the ground when she made her descent.

After a few steps through the slightly new landscape, Elle realised that she wasn't alone. The Ignisian was following her. It wasn't threatening – the way the child (it was really quite obvious he was a child) walked after her, eyes wide in curiosity.

"Look," Elle stopped and turned around when the child made no signs of giving up and leaving her, "go home." Elle wasn't sure if she should have been surprised when the child shook his head stubbornly.

"So you can understand me." Elle muttered as she knelt down to eye-level. She frowned slightly when she noticed something about the Ignisian. Whenever Jay lit up, she was always blue. Completely, purely, blue. No traces of other colour. The Ignisian before her, was different. He seemed to skip along the blue and green part of the spectrum, sometimes dipping into yellow.

_Hm. Interesting._

"Ah, I see you've met our youngest member."

Elle's head whipped around and she looked at the speaker. It was an older Ignisian, and Elle noticed the same thing yet again. His colours were not still, and was constantly changing.

_Maybe it's because Jay's only half Ignisian?_ Elle filed the thought away for future research.

Elle's first impulse was to say "Greetings. I come in peace." Fighting back the admittedly childish impulse, Elle allowed herself to simply say "Greetings."

#MIB#

It was rather odd. Jay thought she and Cha'ron got along well enough – if getting along could be defined as bickering like siblings.

However, Jay finally let the subject drop, and brought their attention back to the mural by tapping a finger against the wall.

"So," Jay tapped the figures on the wall, "these guys here are part of some council? Is that like a government?"

Cha'ron squinted as the studied the mural. "Well," she explained, "I can't be too sure what these murals are saying, but I can explain Ignisia's history."

"Yay. Impromptu history lesson." Jay snarked.

"Do try to stay awake." Cha'ron returned just as snidely, before she fell into what Jay mentally dubbed as 'teaching mode'.

"We don't actually know that much about how the present monarchy came into being-" Cha'ron was rudely cut off by Jay's comment.

"That's nice."

Cha'ron scowled in annoyance. "Don't interrupt."

"Sorry. Do go on."

Cha'ron rolled her eyes at the unapologetic tone. "Anyway, legend has it that the royal family was chosen by Fyre from the nomads-"

"Woah, wait a sec." Jay interrupted again. "Fyre? As in sarcastic-voice-that's-been-bothering-me?"

"Wait. You can hear it?" Cha'ron looked gobsmacked. "You can hear Fyre speaking to you?"

"Yes." Jay answered. "Can't everybody?"

"What?!" Cha'ron shook herself out of her stupor. "Of course not! No one has, not for generations!"

The look Cha'ron was giving Jay bordered on hero worship, and the older woman shifted under the gaze.

"Uh," Jay broached the silence, "can you get back to your history lesson now?"

"But-… I-… Fyre-…" Cha'ron babbled. "You can hear Fyre." She finished lamely.

"And…?" Jay prompted, dread starting to settle in her gut. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, no, but-" Cha'ron began, before she cut herself off. "Never mind."

"History." Jay prompted again, when Cha'ron made no attempt to continue.

"Right. Sorry." Cha'ron still looked a bit shell shocked. "Where was I?"

"Something about nomads." Jay supplied helpfully.

"Oh, that's right." Cha'ron shrugged off her surprise and delved back into teacher mode. "The nomads. Well, Fyre chose-"

Jay knew she probably should not interrupt Cha'ron again, but she couldn't hold back the question. "Just what exactly is Fyre?" Then, she remembered what she had done to Araminta's speckled throne room floor. "And what the heck is mosterlite?"

#MIB#

The Ignisian was surprisingly hospitable. When Elle had asked for his name, he had merely shrugged, and informed her that names were not important among the Nomads.

As Elle followed the old Ignisian, she couldn't help but take notice of the data rolling across her screen. Elle frowned, as yet another familiar flash of numbers appeared on her visor.

_Where have I seen that before?_ Elle turned her head away from the Ignisian, and looked at the trees.

The same numbers darted across her visor.

"Hey, computer," she spoke to the AI, "could you please analyse the radiation of the Ignisian in front of me?"

There was a soft chime – it sounded vaguely like a microwave's beep – and Zeeltor 2.0's voice announced "Done."

"Now check on the radiation coming off the trees."

_Ding._

"Done."

"Are they the same?"

"Yes."

Elle blinked. She already had an inkling that they were the same, but she could not see how it was possible. For one, the trees were not glowing with the same colour-changing fire the Ignisians were. In fact, they weren't glowing at all. They looked like normal trees. They certainly felt like normal trees (it had definitely hurt when Elle dropped into one).

_But they're not normal, are they?_

"Is something the matter?" The Ignisian had stopped, and was looking at Elle with a small degree of concern.

"Uh…the trees," Elle explained, "they have the same, uh…"

"Radioactive frequency." Zeeltor 2.0 supplied. "Or you could go with 'vibe', if it makes it any easier."

"-Vibe," Elle chose the less scientific of the two choices, "as you."

The Ignisian chuckled. "Hardly surprising, seeing as we were all born from Fyre."

"I'm sorry, but what?"

"Fyre is our giver of life." The Ignisian continued, oblivious to Elle's growing confusion. "Fyre brings life to everything. It runs through the trees. It runs through us. We are all one."

It reminded Elle too much of the parasitic plants that had the bad timing of arriving right after Jay had been given an accidental dose of truth serum. But that was probably not the case here. After all, the Ignisian had not proven to be hostile, and did not seem to have parasitic growths…

_Maybe Fyre's some sort of deity they worship?_

"Okay…" Elle gestured to a tree. "May I…?"

"Of course." The Ignisian nodded his permission, and Elle gently broke off a piece of bark. The wood underneath glowed, before fading into a slightly more normal appearance.

"Wow." Elle let out a low whistle. Then she frowned as she remembered what the Ignisian had said earlier. "Hold on. Did you say 'we are one'?"

"Yes."

"Computer," Elle asked the AI hurriedly, a suspicion nagging in the back of her mind, "are the levels of radiation from the trees fluctuating in complete synchronisation with our Ignisians?"

Elle watched impatiently as more data scrolled across her visor, until three separate lines of numbers appeared. They were the same.

"Oh, my."

Fyre wasn't just a deity. It was, for lack of a better word, the life-force of all Ignisian life.

#MIB#

Jay was thankful that her brain-to-mouth filter was on. Otherwise, she would have probably insulted Cha'ron, especially if she had said "Are you saying y'all worship a king-sized campfire?"

Luckily, Jay hadn't said so.

"Now that we have that out of the way, may I continue?" Cha'ron's voice snapped Jay out of her reverie.

"By all means. Oh, wait," Jay remembered the mosterlite floor, "you still haven't told me what mosterlite is."

"Seriously?" Cha'ron asked sceptically. "Mosterlite's a volatile rock."

"Meaning?"

"It goes boom at the slightest hint of fire."

"Oh." A look of mischievous glee settled in Jay's eyes, and Cha'ron stepped back in alarm, before remembering that she was supposed to be providing an impromptu history lesson.

"As I was saying," _before you rudely interrupted,_ Cha'ron repeated in exasperation, "the current royal family was chosen by Fyre."

"Seems to me that Fyre made a bad choice." Jay muttered, thinking of Araminta.

"Well," Cha'ron felt obligated to defend her belief, "it was generations ago. And sometimes, people just make the wrong choices."

"Like murdering her own family?" Jay suggested darkly.

"The Empress did that?" Cha'ron's eyebrows lifted in horror. "How'd you know?"

"Because…" Jay paused, trying to think of a nice way to tell Cha'ron.

_Ah, heck with it. She's going to find out anyway._

"Because I'm her niece. Her last living relative."


	5. Chapter 5 Revelation

**Revelation**

"Your aunt is the empress." Cha'ron didn't even sound surprised.

"You don't sound very surprised." Jay pointed out lightly.

"You can hear Fyre. I think being related to royalty doesn't take the cake anymore."

"Point taken." Jay acknowledged. "You're taking this well, by the way."

"Thanks." Cha'ron answered distractedly. Then "Oh my Fyre. You're her niece."

Jay sighed. "She shoots, she panics." She muttered, more to herself than to Cha'ron.

#MIB#

It wasn't long before the spaceship tracked down the only other vehicle on the planet. Alpha hadn't even bothered to hide his spaceship, and the large blue thing stood out like a sore thumb in the sandy desert.

"As far as the scans show," X announced from the co-pilot's seat, "there's no sign of life on board. I think it's safe to assume that neither Jay nor Alpha is on the ship."

"Better safe than sorry." Kay tossed a standard MIB space suit watch to X, before clicking his own on. "Prince Rex, stay on the ship and wait for Elle."

It turned out X was right.

"He didn't even bother to lock the door." X muttered disapprovingly as he eyed the wide open ramp. "They must have left in a hurry."

Kay wordlessly examined the ship, eyes raking over the ramp, cataloguing every detail.

"Now what?" X asked. "There aren't any footprints. We can't possibly know where they went."

Kay raised his eyebrows in a '_Really?_' look. "My guess is that they went to the city in the distance." He told X simply, jerking a thumb in the general direction of the city.

"I-" X frowned as he caught sight of the city walls. "Couldn't you have told me that earlier?"

"Like I said earlier," Kay turned back towards the MIB spaceship, "better safe than sorry."

X shot one last look at the spaceship, before he followed in the human's footsteps. "So, do you have a plan?"

"Yes."

"…Are you referring to the half-baked idea I came up with?"

"Uh-huh."

…

Elle hated it when problems came up, especially if it threw a spanner in the works.

When she had first discovered that Fyre (as the locals called it) was connected to all life on the dust ball of a planet, she had felt nothing but awe. It was amazing, the idea of a large combusting…thing stretching from the core of the planet, and reaching to the surface. And, not to mention it was in synchronisation with the trees, and the Ignisians. And, the trees seemed to thrive off Fyre, along with the Ignisians.

Elle thought back to X's plan – knock out all major life-forms on Ignisia with Compound Blue, find Jay, and get her out of there.

Not necessarily in that order.  
("Perhaps it would be wise to find Jay first," Kay had suggested wryly, "after all, we don't know how long this Compound Blue will last.")

_But,_ Elle realised with a feeling of dread, _what if we knocked out the central system by accident? Would everything die?_

Elle's attention returned to the oblivious Ignisian walking in front of her, then at the trees. She bit her lip as an even more unsettling thought occurred. _What if __**Jay's**__ just as deeply connected as the rest of the organisms? What would happen to her?_

It was the thought of her friend that pushed Elle into making her decision.

"Computer," Elle spoke aloud, "patch a call through to Kay."

…

"_You know,"_ X's voice crackled over the earpiece and into Kay's ear, _"for such a large city, it's really not well guarded."_

"Good." Kay muttered, as he placed another canister into the outside wall of the city. "Makes our job easier. Are you finished on your end?"

"…_Almost…"_ X trailed off. Kay could almost imagine the alien poking his tongue out in concentration.

"_Ah, got it."_ X sounded triumphant.

"Rendezvous back at the ship in five minutes." Kay instructed.

"_Right. X out."_ The connection cut, and Kay was left in silence for two seconds, before Elle's voice filtered through the earpiece.

"_Kay? Can you hear me?"_

"Elle?" Kay frowned at the slightly breathless tone to the blonde agent's voice. "Is something wrong?"

"_No, I'm fine,"_ Elle sounded distracted. _"Listen, have you planted the gas canisters yet?"_

"Just finished. Why?"

"_Don't set them off."_

_What?_ Kay frowned. "Why not?"

"_Look, I can't explain right now, but…I think it may put Jay in danger. Please, just trust me on this one."_

Kay grimaced when he heard the words 'Jay' and 'danger' in the same sentence. But he forced himself to say the next words. "Not until you explain."

There was a sigh of exasperation on the other end, before Elle gave in. _"Fine. But I'll give you the watered down version…"_

…

X drummed his fingers against the dashboard impatiently. _Where the heck is Kay?_

"You sure he said five minutes?" Rex asked, not for the first time.

"Yes." X rolled his eyes. "See my large green ears? My hearing is fine, thank you very much."

"You're wearing your human suit."

"Hmph. Details." X waved it off.

There was a soft hiss from the airlock, and X's main source of strife for the past five minutes finally appeared in the ship.

"Finally!" X glared accusingly at Kay. "What took you so long?"

"I'm afraid Compound Blue's going to be on hold." Kay replied.

"What? Why?" X demanded.

Kay, however, had other things on his mind. "Where are the worms?"

#MIB#

To Cha'ron's credit, she got over her surprise rather quickly. She also came to the conclusion that 'Jabbanoyoda' wasn't really called Jabbanoyoda. After all, what sort of parents would name their child _that_?

"It's actually Cha'ra." Jay had shrugged. "Or Jay. Whichever."

Right now, Jay, or Cha'ra, or Jabbanoyoda, (or whoever she was) had drawn their attention back to the murals.

"Yo, check out this one." Jay's voice drifted up the tunnel, and Cha'ron jogged over. "Look at it, it's like the fire's coming outta this guy."

"What? No, it doesn't-" Cha'ron broke off as she studied the mural. "Actually, it does." She muttered in bewilderment.

"So, what does it say?" Jay prompted, pointing to the line of writing.

" 'Becoming one.' " Cha'ron read aloud.

"Huh. Creepy." Jay commented, thinking of the parasitic plants.

"I wonder what it means…" Cha'ron was still looking at the mural. "Is there one after it?"

"Uh…" Jay walked further down the tunnel. "…Yes."

The figure was now completely covered in fire.

"Wait." Cha'ron looked closer. "That's not just any fire, it's Fyre!"

Jay blinked. "I'm sorry, but what's the difference?"

"Fyre. F-Y-R-E." Cha'ron spelled, and Jay's expression, a universal one that clearly said _Ah, I see_, spoke volumes.

Cha'ron's hand cupped her chin as she stared at the mural. "Now, this is interesting. Can't say I've ever seen anything like this before."

"Whaddya reckon it means?" Jay asked as she looked at the old painting. "Think it's some sort of ritual? You know, the type where they sacrifice things?"

"Doubt it. Sacrificial rituals were never part of Ignisian culture." Cha'ron pointed at the main figure, the one covered in Fyre, then at the other smaller figures surrounding it. "Look. See how this guy is larger?"

"Yep."

"It could mean that this guy's the ruler of Ignisia." Cha'ron mused. "Or at least, _was_, considering the age of this painting."

Jay nodded in agreement, before walking further down the tunnel. "Look at this one. It's almost exactly the same."

"Hmm." Cha'ron observed the next mural, and studied the main figure painted in the middle. "I think it's a girl."

Jay quirked an eyebrow. (_Ugh, Kay's rubbing off on me._) "How can you tell?"

"It…it just does." Cha'ron finished lamely.

Jay snorted.

"Oh, shut up." The Ignisian swatted at Jay's arm. Jay ducked away, grinning. "Do you want me to read them or not?"

Jay sobered immediately. "Of course. Go right ahead."

Cha'ron rolled her eyes, before she looked at the long lines of writing accompanying the mural. "In times of need, rulers will bond and become the Speaker for Fyre." She cleared her throat and continued. "Fyre is everything. Fyre is death. Fyre is life."

"Okay…" Jay backed away slightly, "things just got a lot creepier. What's all this stuff about Fyre being everything?"

"Are you kidding?" Cha'ron looked amazed at Jay's ignorance. "Look, Yoda, I don't where you've been all your life-"

"On Earth."

"-I was going to say under a rock, but that works too-" Cha'ron shrugged.

Jay bristled at the unintentional insult at Earth.

"-Anyway, it's common knowledge that we – Ignisians – live because of Fyre."

Jay only had one question. "How?"

Cha'ron resisted the urge to tear out her hair. "Look," she clicked her fingers, and a ball of fire erupted, "see this? Everyone draws their energy from Fyre."

"Yeah, but how do you know for sure?" Jay pressed. "Is it a mental thing?"

Cha'ron paused, and scratched her head. "I…I guess so."

Jay left it at that, and delved back into her own thoughts. It was unsettling, how she could hear Fyre one second, then not hear it in the next. _Why? Why me?_  
Then, as though she had only heard his voice two minutes ago, she remembered what Zeeltor had said, about her birthday, about the gene suppressor and about the peak of her powers. Jay sighed. Sometimes, there were too many things in the world – _scratch that, make that the freaking galaxy!_ – that confused Jay. Her current crisis was one of them.

She sighed again. She really missed how Elle always had some sort of wise saying that would temporarily distract Jay from her original worry, especially if the saying made no sense at all, and Jay would have to spend a few minutes puzzling it out. By the time she worked it out, she usually would have forgotten about her original worry.

Of course, Elle wasn't here now, and Jay couldn't afford to be distracted. Even so, Jay grinned as a faint memory of a quote drifted up.

"_I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant."_

Jay had turned with a startled "I'm sorry, but _what_?" and nearly ran over the worms, much to Elle's amusement. It had taken her a good five minutes trying to figure out what Elle had said.

"What's so funny?" Cha'ron looked vaguely alarmed at the grin on Jay's face.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." But dread returned. Jay knew she had probably spent a little more than a day in the tunnels. There was only one day left.

And Jay still didn't know what she would do at the Solar Solstice.


	6. Chapter 6 Lunacy

**Lunacy**

Elle yawned, and checked her watch. It told her that in Earth time, it was night time, which probably meant she should have been asleep.

Point was, she wasn't asleep, and the planet didn't look like it would get dark any time soon.

"Is there such thing as night time here?" Elle asked the computer.

"Well, no." Zeeltor 2.0 answered. "Given the fact that Ignisia has in fact two suns-"

"Two?"

"Yes, Ignisia has two suns to orbit around, there will always be light. It is just a matter of how light or dark."

"Wait. How does it orbit around the two suns?" Elle was curious. "Do you know?"

"The simplest description I can offer is that it orbits in a figure eight shape." The computer finished. "It is night-time on earth, by the way."

"Yes, I know, thank you." Elle muttered impatiently. "Keep watch while I catch some shut-eye, won't you?"

"Of course."

With that, Elle darkened her visor, twisted around to get more comfortable in the branches, and nodded off into a restless sleep. On the other side of the trunk, Elle's Ignisian guide closed his eyes, and his mind sunk into the warm embrace of Fyre.

Elsewhere, Kay finally powered down the ship and put it into stealth mode. _Just one more day left._

#MIB#

_**Hello again.**_

"Fyre." Jay muttered. "Where are you?"

"Jabbanoyoda?" Cha'ron frowned. "Who're you talking to?"

"Shh!" Jay placed a finger over her lips, signalling for Cha'ron to be quiet. "Quiet, Ronnie."

"What did you just call me?" Cha'ron demanded to know.

"I think I can hear Fyre again." Jay ignored her question.

"What?!"

"Shush!" Jay shushed again.

_**Go down the right tunnel.**_

_Why should I trust you?_

_**I can help you understand.**_

"Fine. How do I know which one is the right one?" Jay asked. "You can't expect me to just know."

_**Well,**_ and Jay could have sworn she heard a smirk in its voice, _**it's the one that's not on the left, obviously.**_

"Well?" Cha'ron asked, downright confused. After all, she could only hear one side of the conversation. "What's Fyre saying?"

"Something 'bout the tunnel on the right." Jay answered cryptically, and started down the tunnel, almost running. If Fyre knew anything that would help her at all, Jay was willing to listen. After all, it wouldn't hurt.

"Woah, wait up," Cha'ron called after Jay, "the way to leave the tunnels is _this_ way." She pointed down the left branch of the tunnel. "Not _that_ way."

Jay wasn't worried. At least, not about the way out of the tunnel. "I know. Fyre's telling me we go thataway." Jay did not wait around to see Cha'ron's expression, and ran down the tunnel.

Cha'ron sighed, before sprinting to catch up with her companion. She did not have much catching up to do – she found Jay staring at a dead end, which was covered in intricate carvings.

"Great." Cha'ron commented sarcastically. "Now what?"

_**Tell her it is a Fire Lock. She will understand.**_

"Fyre says it's a fire lock. Whatever that is." Jay informed Cha'ron.

"A fire lock?" Cha'ron repeated incredulously. "Are you sure?"

Jay nodded.

Cha'ron took a deep breath. "This is awesome! Oh my Fyre, these things haven't been seen for _centuries_, and to think that one was right under the palace-"

"Okay, Ronnie." Jay placated the excited Ignisian. "Fangirl about it later. Explain what it is."

Cha'ron didn't even notice the nickname this time. "It's literally what it sounds like – a lock, except it locks onto your fire signature – everyone has a slightly different one, by the way – and it only opens if you're the right person."

_**Go on. Open it.**_

"Uh," Jay asked Cha'ron, "How do I open it?"

"Oh," Cha'ron broke out of her daydreaming with a start, "you light up your hands, like so-" she lit up her hands, and Jay copied her "-and you press them into that groove there." She pointed to a hand-shaped indent. "I'm not sure if it'll open for you though-"

Cha'ron broke off when the wall slid down into the floor as soon as Jay pressed her hands against it. She watched enviously as Jay stepped over the wall and into the chamber beyond.

Suddenly, Jay stopped, as if she realised that Cha'ron wasn't following her. "Yo, Cha'ron. You coming?"

"Can't." Cha'ron shook her head sadly. "Only the unlocker can enter."

"Oh." Jay felt slightly guilty. "Then I'll just have to tell you all about it, right?"

"Right." Cha'ron smiled. "I'll just be here. Waiting."

Shooting one last grin at the Ignisian, Jay stepped into the chamber beyond the lock. Steps stretched down further into the planet, and Jay descended on them. The walls came closer, and torches of pure white flames flickered in their sockets along the wall. Jay fought away the claustrophobia. Now was _not_ a good time to panic.

Finally, Jay reached the bottom, and started in surprise at the round chamber the steps led into. Seven clear crystal-like statues stood in a circle, surrounding the dais in the middle of the chamber.

_Wow. Where am I?_

_**I would say that you are underground-**_

Jay rolled her eyes, but before she could make a comment, Fyre cut back in,

_**-but I assume you are talking about your location in regards to the ground above. It that case, we are directly below the Arena.**_

_The Arena?_

_**It's what Araminta uses to execute her victims. But never mind that. Come to the centre.**_

Jay quirked an eyebrow at Fyre's blunt tone, but her expression changed to one of awe when she looked up at the closest towering statue. "Wow…"

_**Do hurry up. You only have one day left.**_

"Yeah, yeah, keep your skirt on," Jay grumbled as she walked over to the dais, "I'm coming." When she reached the dais, she was disappointed to find it wasn't much of a dais – it reminded her more of a small round, coffee table which had had its tabletop shaped into a cup.

"Okay, now what?" Jay asked Fyre.

_**Draw up fire and light it up.**_

Jay raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and lit up her hands with blue fire, ready to plunge them into the cup-

_**Stop!**_

Jay's hands hovered a centimetre away from the cup.

_**I meant use me. Draw fire from the torches. Do not use your own.**_

"If you say so." Jay spent the next few minutes fruitlessly trying to pull fire from the torches and pour it into the dais. _Come on. Remember what Zeeltor said. Atoms. Atoms. Atoms._

Jay opened her eyes. "Nothing happened. I could do with a little help."

_**Feel, don't think. Let go of your human science. Just feel the fire running from the torches, and into the cup.**_

_Don't think._ Jay closed her eyes, and imagined the fire turning fluid, and running from the walls, and pouring into the cup-

_**Well done.**_

Jay cracked open an eyelid and grinned when she saw that the cup had filled to the brim with flickering white flames.

_**And now, observe.**_

"Observe? Observe what?" Jay asked curiously. Fyre didn't need to answer.

Jay watched in amazement as the white flames trickled out of the cup, drew along the floor in seven straight lines, each stretching to the statues. As soon as the fire reached the statues, it changed colour. Jay goggled as each of the statues began to glow with their own individual colours.

_Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet._

Like the statues, Jay lit up, only with inspiration. "Wait. They're the Council of Seven, aren't they?"

_**Correct. Keep watching.**_

The light show didn't stop there. From each statue, the fire rose across the ceiling, and met in the middle in a clash of rainbow. From the swirl of colours, images began to form.

Images of Ignisians. Images of the Council of Seven.

Jay let out a low whistle. "Impressive." Jay scrutinised the images. "Are they memories?" Suddenly, she caught sight of a familiar face.

"Dad?"

If Fyre had a tangible heart, it would have twisted at the broken tone in Jay's voice. _**Just a memory.**_ Fyre whispered sadly.

"So, he was an Ignisian after all?" Jay asked, still staring at the face. Then, she shook herself. "Right. Let's get down to business. What do you have to show me?"

_**This.**_ was the only warning Jay had before the swirling rainbow engulfed her.

Eyes watering, Jay blinked until her vision cleared, and she found herself standing in a large room with a table. Seated at the table were living versions of the statues she had seen.

"Ooh. Technicolour." Jay grinned.

"Very funny." A very familiar voice chuckled by her ear.

"Kay?!" Jay turned to look at who she thought was her partner. Then she rubbed her eyes. "No, no, no. It can't be you. You're Fyre, aren't you?"

Not-Kay smiled, and Jay thought the expression didn't suit him. "You catch on fast…Slick."–Jay rubbed her forehead at the completely oddness of the whole situation–"I merely picked the appearance of the one you most wanted to see."

"No." Jay snapped sharply. "We're gonna need to talk boundaries here. You are _not_ going to take Kay's form. Because it is quite disturbing to see him smile."

Not-Kay sighed. "Then who?"

"I don't know, anyone!"

"Fine." Not-Kay huffed in exasperation, and a second later, Jack Jeebs stood where Not-Kay had been.

Jay's expression was answer enough.

"How 'bout dis, then?" Jaime Edwards of the NYPD looked at her.

Jay let out a long-suffering sigh. "If you must. But lose the accent. I do _not_ talk like that."

"Very well." Fyre spoke in her regal tones.

"So, what did you want to show me?" Jay gestured at the table of seven Ignisians. "I don't think it was just to watch these old guys talk… Wait. We are, aren't we?" Internally, Jay groaned. _Great. Another history lesson._

Fyre chuckled in Jaime's voice. "But of course, Jay. Let us go closer, shall we?"

Jay followed Fyre to the table, where she could see the council members up close.

"Originally," Fyre began, in a droning voice, "Ignisia was not ruled as an empire, or even a monarch. It was a republic, of sorts."

"Let me guess: there weren't any opposing parties?" Jay suggested dryly.

"Correct." Fyre nodded. "Each council member you see here-" Fyre gestured to the figures "-were chosen by each of the different clans-"

"Clans?" Jay repeated. "You're making this sound like, oh, I don't know, some cheesy kid's show."

Fyre rolled her eyes. "Focus."

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, before you interrupted," Fyre continued, "Ignisia was originally ruled by the council. It was a time of peace, Jay."

Jay gazed at the council members. "Who were they? I mean, what sort of people were they?"

"The best kind, Jay." Fyre smiled wistfully.

"Did you know them?" Jay asked curiously. "What happened to them?"

"You could say that." Fyre pondered her next words. "They're…still alive, in a way."

"What?" Jay whirled around to look at Fyre. "They're still alive? Then why the heck aren't they ruling? You know, instead of a certain power hungry maniac we all know and hate?"

"Because they can't, Jay." Fyre said sadly.

"And you know this how?" Jay demanded, suspicions beginning to creep in.

"I'm them." Fyre admitted.

Jay stared blankly. "Okay," she took a deep breath, _calm down, Edwards - I'm sure you're not crazy_ "what are you talking about?"

"Jay," Fyre tried to explain, "remember, this happened a long, long time ago. Ignisians aren't immortal."

"So, they _are_ dead." Jay tried to make sense.

"Not quite." Fyre shook her head. "By the time the Council grew old, they had not come up with suitable replacements for themselves, and Ignisia was in need of a new ruler."

"Then what happened?" Jay asked.

"They banded together their consciousness. Their ghosts, if you will." Fyre gestured to herself. "And I was created."

"How?"

"They drew upon the natural life force of the planet, and…well, the specifics are quite vague to me." Fyre shrugged. "I honestly can't remember."

"Wait." Jay frowned. "If you really are seven beings blended into one, shouldn't you have many forms?"

"Hmm." Fyre shrugged again. "Perhaps. Perhaps not."

Jay scowled. _Being cryptic. Thought I left that stuff behind with Zeeltor._ Aloud, she said "And this is supposed to help me understand, how?"

"I'm getting there." Fyre chided. "Now, in layman's terms, the Council of Seven became one, large white, uh, bonfire, so to speak."

Jay nodded. It made sense – it seemed that two years of art in high school paid off after all. "Yeah, I know how the colours work." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Say, can you take away memories with…uh, yourself?"

"Yes, I can." Fyre answered. "Well," she amended, "not personally, at least. I must be used by someone who has a deep connection with the planet."

Jay cocked her head to one side thoughtfully, and looked at Fyre. "So," she began in a deceptively calm voice, "I'm not about to go around pointing fingers, but…"

"But?"

"Who the hell gave you permission to mess with my memories?!" Jay blurted out, itching to reach forward, grab the entity by its collar and shake it until it gave up all its secrets.

Fyre gave Jay a long look. Then, simply, "Your father. Or rather, he called me to do his bidding."

Jay stared back. _Oh. Right. Wait._ "Hold on, how could he reach you all the way from earth?"

"I was getting there." Fyre muttered irritably. "As I was saying, we chose our new leader based on his or her connection with Ignisia. Now, as you probably know, Ignisia is a dying planet."

"I did _not_ know that." Jay corrected. "But I certainly sensed it."

"Exactly." Fyre nodded, as if Jay had announced the way to world peace.

"That made no sense whatsoever." Jay wondered if Fyre was confusing by nature.

"You have a connection with the planet." Fyre explained. "Just like your father before you and all the rulers of Ignisia that came after the Council."

_Oh_._ Oh, crap._ "Woah, wait, wait." Jay protested, beginning to back away. "Please tell me you're not thinking of what I think you're thinking of."

Fyre grinned, a wolfish, mischievous grin that looked perfectly at home on Jaime's face. "I'm thinking exactly what you're thinking of."

"Sh*t. You're gonna make me the new ruler of Ignisia, aren't you?"


	7. Chapter 7 Politics

_**Author's Notes: Final day for Jay. She'd better come up with a plan soon.**_

* * *

**Politics**

As far as Jay was concerned, whoever thought she was fit to be a leader ought to be locked away in an asylum cell, complete with padded walls and straightjacket. No, no, no. Jay was the sidekick, she was the one who wasn't afraid to get the job done, even if it meant a tussle in the sewers. She was definitely not a regal, refined and perfectly well-behaved person.

"You're crazy." Jay announced bluntly. "There's no way in the galaxy am I ever gonna become Empress."

"But Jay," Fyre protested, "please listen. After I was first formed, all seven of us were advisors to our successor, but-"

"Let me guess," Jay cut in, "as time went on, they didn't listen anymore?"

"Yes," Fyre admitted, "you're the first who has listened in generations."

"Ugh!" Jay ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "Look, I came to Ignisia to free a friend of mine from Araminta-" – if Jay had more time, she might have wondered whether or not Zed could be considered as a 'friend' as opposed to 'boss' – "-not to usurp her position! I can't be an empress! Besides, what am I supposed to do? Throw fireballs at her? Does Ignisian fire even work on other Ignisians?"

"Well," Fyre pondered her questions, "traditionally, one would appeal to the leader's advisors with reasons as to why the current leader was unfit for ruling, and the matter would be debated at length-"

"Okay, that's boring." Jay cut in, as she knew if Fyre continued, she would fall asleep on her feet. "Is there another way? You know, one that involves…"

"Mindless violence?" Fyre supplied lightly. "That seems to be your style."

"Hm. Maybe." Jay replied in what she hoped was an innocent voice.

"Well, you _could _challenge Araminta to one on one combat, for the rightful place as empress…"

"But I don't want to become an empress!" Jay whined. "Isn't there another way?"

"No." Fyre replied flatly. "I'm afraid that's the only way you can get Araminta out of power, in a barbarian's methods."

Jay felt mildly insulted. "Hey, well, it's actions, not words, that get the job done. And besides, you still haven't told me how Ignisians fight."

"With fire, of course." Came the simple reply.

When Fyre didn't offer a further explanation, Jay prompted. "And…? Are you going to elaborate?"

Fyre continued to give Jay a slightly perplexed look. Jay sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, whether or not other Ignisians will actually feel the burn if I did throw a fireball at them."

"Oh, they won't." Fyre shrugged. "I don't think you have it in you." At Jay's blank look, she continued on. "You see, when you do attack another Ignisian with fire, you have to mean it. You really have to want to kill. Or else they won't feel the burn. It'll just be like a bunch of flies encircling a bison. Annoying, but useless."

"Fine," Jay groused, "but how do you know I don't have it in me? How do you know I can't kill?"

"I have seen your heart, Jay," Fyre announced quietly, "and believe me, there is not enough malice in there."

"Well, okay then." Jay rubbed the back of her neck with her hand sheepishly at the sudden in depth analysis of her character. "If you say so. But then how am I supposed to stop Araminta? How does she even keep Alpha under her control anyway?"

"Jay," Fyre begin softly, "remember when I said that I am the physical embodiment of life on Ignisia?"

"No." Jay muttered

Fyre ignored her comment. "Well, there must be a balance. The shadow your aunt utilises is the physical embodiment of death."

The gears turned slowly in Jay's head. "…You saying Alpha's gonna die?"

"No," Fyre shook her head, "I am saying, there must always be a balance. When Araminta came into power, she turned to the shadows, and prolonged her life."

"So," Jay began slowly, just to make sure she had it right, "you're saying Araminta's the one who's gonna die?"

"What is your obsession with death?" Fyre sighed in exasperation. "No, what I am saying is that caused a disturbance in the balance. This is why Ignisia is dying. It is your duty to-"

" 'Bring balance to the Force.' " Jay quoted. "Yeah, yeah. I've heard this mumbo jumbo before."

"Really?" Fyre sounded surprised. "I must make a note of that."

"Make the note later," Jay broke across Fyre's musings. "I've still got questions. How is Araminta controlling Alpha? How do I stop her?"

"Both light and dark can be used to manipulate other sentients." Fyre informed Jay. "Of course, to stop the mind control is simple. You must remove it at the source, or in this case, Araminta-" Suddenly, Fyre broke off with a pained gasp.

Around them, the colours of the council room wavered and shimmered, threatening to blend together, back into a wild swirl of rainbow.

"What's happening?" Jay looked at Fyre in concern. It was odd, seeing a copy of herself in pain. "Are you alright?"

"I'm running out of time." Fyre whimpered, wrapping her arms around her middle. "I've got to-"

The room twisted again, and then shattered. With a start, Jay found herself standing back in the round chamber.

"Fyre? Are you still there?" Jay called out tentatively.

There was no answer.

#MIB#

"And then, just like that, Fyre was gone!"

"Hush!" Cha'ron hissed a whisper at Jay. "Keep it down!"

"Sorry." Jay whispered back, wrapping the 'borrowed' (in other words, taken-without-permission-and-possibly never-to-be-returned) cloak around her shoulders more tightly.

When Jay had left the round chamber behind, she had found Cha'ron leaning against the tunnel wall, half asleep. After a quick explanation was offered, it had taken exactly two seconds for Cha'ron to freak out.

"Fyre's gone? Oh, no! All hope is lost!"

It had taken another two minutes for her to calm down, and for Jay to start adding details to the original quick explanation. It did nothing to assuage Cha'ron's fears, but it was enough to motivate her in leading Jay to the exit of the tunnels. Before Jay could set a single step out of the tunnels, Cha'ron had stopped her.

"What are you doing?" Jay had asked.

"You're going to stick out like a sore thumb. Wait here." And then Cha'ron had disappeared, only to return with a cloak of dark brown material. Which Jay was wearing now.

_Ugh. At least it's not a trench coat._ At the memory of Alpha in his tasteless trench coat, Jay burst into giggles.

Cha'ron turned around, and shot her a dark glare. "Fyre's gone, and you're _giggling_?"

"Sorry," Jay forced on a straight face, "just thought of something funny."

"Well, I envy you." Cha'ron scowled, then the scowl lessened as worry stole over her features. "Are you sure Fyre's gone? Can you even hear just a little bit of it?"

Jay sighed. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Well, drat." Cha'ron ducked behind another stand, and Jay followed. It was amazing how earlier, when Jay and Alpha had entered the city, it was quiet. Now, however, it was bustling with life, and the streets of the marketplace were filled with Ignisians going about their daily business.

The only problem it posed was that it made sneaking around harder than before, although considering the way the market-goers did not pay much attention the two girls, Jay mused that it was probably _easier_ than before. With that thought, another grin appeared

"Over here." A tug on the sleeves of the cloak brought Jay to an even noisier part of the market. Now Jay couldn't hear Cha'ron easily anymore.

Cha'ron slowed down to a quick walk, and Jay followed easily. "Okay, okay," Cha'ron massaged her temples, "Fyre's gone. You have no idea what to do on the Solar Solstice tomorrow. And you're still smiling. Why are you _smiling_?"

"What?" Jay cupped a hand around her ear. "Whachya saying?"

"Oh, for goodness sake-"

Cha'ron never finished her sentence – while she had turned around to glare at Jay in annoyance, she hadn't taken notice of where she was going, and tripped over four very familiar Night Crawlers. Jay, who had not expected Cha'ron to trip over any time soon, found herself falling over Cha'ron and nearly squishing Neeble into the dusty ground.

For a moment, there was a stunned silence as all members regarded each other. It didn't last long.

"Oh, hi Jay!"  
"Worms?!"  
"What the heck are you?"

#MIB#

Jay tore down the street, one Worm under each arm. In front of her, Cha'ron was doing the same, except she had to shove the odd marketplace-goer aside with a quick explanation of "This is an emergency!"

They weren't even bothering with subtlety anymore – their cover had been blown the moment Jay's cloak had shifted in the fall and revealed her not-glowing features. Of course, this in itself would not have been a problem, if the Worms did not have two minions of Araminta (the more rational part of Jay admitted they were really palace guards as opposed to 'minions') right on their trail.

And now, they were yelling for the group to stop. And naturally, no one paid them any attention. It reminded Jay of New York in a way – just like that time when she tried to tranquilise Jeff without too much success, none of the Ignisians even batted an eye at the group escaping from the palace guards.

"Halt!"

Jay ignored the call, and instead, turned her attention back onto the Worms.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked as she ducked under another shop sign.

"Rescuing you, of course." The Worm under her right arm spoke in a matter-of-factly voice.

"Well," Jay followed Cha'ron down another alleyway, "you're not really doing a good job of it."

"Oi, Jabba, hurry up!" Cha'ron called from somewhere in front.

Jay put on an extra burst of speed, ignoring the Worm under her left arm who was giving her a look which clearly said _Really? Jabba? That's the most uncreative name I've ever heard._

"Wait a sec." Jay looked down at the Worms as logic finally kicked in. Jay knew that the Worms couldn't have possibly just simply appeared (_scratch that – stranger things have happened_), and must have had a ride here. Which meant- "If you guys are here, does that mean that-urk!" Jay broke off when somebody grabbed her upper arm and jerked her into a small door that she hadn't even noticed. The door behind her slammed shut, and Jay only caught a glimpse of Cha'ron closing the door before the room was plunged into darkness, save for the soft green glow from Cha'ron.

"Stay quiet." Cha'ron hissed to all the occupants of the room, pressing her ear against the door.

Time passed slowly – Jay was acutely aware of the nervous tick in Neeble's antennae, and the fact that she felt a sudden urge to move, or at least make some sort of noise.

Then, after what seemed like hours, Cha'ron pulled away from the door. "I think we lost them."

The Worms took this opportunity to grab Jay's hands and tug her down to their eyelevel.  
"Jay, it's good to see you!"  
"I don't suppose you have any coffee, do you?"  
"What's with the ugly coat?"  
"Did you miss us?"

"Uh…" Jay stammered, trying to answer all their questions, "uh, thanks…no…ask Cha'ron, and… well, yes, I suppose."

Before the worms could rattle off another volley of questions, Jay cut in with a few of her own. "How did you guys get here? Who came with you? Why are you here?"

The four night crawlers shared look. Then- "Spaceship. Elle, X and Rex. We're here to rescue you."

"Oh, yes," one of the worms clicked his fingers, "and Kay came too."

"Kay?" Jay repeated. "Kay…came for me?"

"Well, yeah, love makes-"  
"People do stupid-"  
"Things. Even Kay."  
"He left U-the-Shoe-Shiner in charge. Just for you."

"I…that's so…sweet of him." A slightly love-struck grin appeared on Jay's face.

"I'm going to be sick." Cha'ron announced dispassionately.

At Cha'ron's words, Jay snapped out of her dazed state. "Wait. He left U in charge? What happened to Zed?"

"Zed's a mindless zombie-"  
"So Kay was the grand poobah of MiB for a while-"  
"Till he ditched his post for you."  
"And he left U in charge." The last worm chimed in.

"He left U-" Jay broke off, rubbing her temples. "U. Seriously?"

"Yes. We. Seriously." Neeble replied in true caveman style.

"No, no," Jay shook her head, "I meant Agent U, not you-you."

"Oh." The worms answered as a collective group. "So," one of them began brightly, "now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's go home. I'm starting to miss the cafeteria Java."

The four worms started to drag Jay towards the door, and she dug her heels in. "Guys, wait! I can't go!"

"Why not?" The four Night Crawlers stared at her.

"Because," Jay tried to explain, "I'm here to free Zed from the mind control. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let myself get captured."

"Wait a second." One of the worms looked closely at her. "Are you saying you weren't kidnapped like a damsel in distress?"

"What? No!" Jay snapped, embarrassment starting to well up. "I am _not_ a damsel in distress!"

"Not according to X."

_X, when I get my hands on you…_ Before Jay could delve into deeper and more murderous thoughts, the worms were talking again.

"So, you're not going home with us?" The coffee loving aliens pulled identical kicked-puppy expressions.

Jay made an effort to ignore their faces. "No, guys. I'm not. I can't."

"Well," Neeble stepped forward, "I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say we'll wait for you." His fellow coffee addicts nodded in agreement.

_Aww._ Jay cooed mentally. _That's so cute-_

"So," another worm clapped his hands together cheerfully, "when do we get to kick your Aunt's ass?"

"Er…" Jay paused, running through the days in her head. "Tomorrow, preferably."


	8. Chapter 8 Zeeltor's Miscalculation

_**Author's Notes: Finally, some action in this chapter. Or, 'ass kicking', in Jay's terms.**_

_Previously:  
"So," another worm clapped his hands together cheerfully, "when do we get to kick your Aunt's ass?"  
"Er…" Jay paused, running through the days in her head. "Tomorrow, preferably."_

* * *

**Zeeltor's Miscalculation**

"You actually have a set time for kicking Araminta's ass?" The fourth worm asked Jay incredulously.

"Yes, I know," Jay waved her hands in a _keep-it-down_ motion, "but it's not by my choice. It's just that tomorrow, I'll have the best chance of-"

"- successful ass-kicking -" Neeble cut in.

"I was going to say defeating Araminta," Jay shrugged, "but that works too."

"Look, I'd hate to interrupt this reunion," Cha'ron cut in with a drawl, "but we still haven't gotten down to the finer details of _how_."

"Easy." Jay grinned with the same happy-go-lucky attitude the worms had. "We escort the worms back to wherever the MiB ship is-" here, she addressed the worms, "You guys did come in a MiB ship, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Good," Jay continued, "after that, you, Cha'ron, will go home and pretend you never met me, and I'll hand myself over to Araminta again. Then tomorrow, at my execution-"

Cha'ron winced in synchronisation with the worms at the word 'execution'.

"-I'll challenge her to a one-on-one fight." Jay finished. "If all goes well, I'll defeat her, and then I'll worry about appointing a leader to Ignisia."

"Hmm. Excellent plan, Agent Jay." An all too familiar voice drifted from the door. "Except for one thing."

Everyone stared at the door.

"You." Jay's eyes widened.

"Yes," Alpha agreed, smirking, "me."

#MIB#

"Worms! Cha'ron!" Jay threw another fireball at the building, and it collapsed in a raging inferno, with Alpha still inside. "Go! I'll hold Alpha off!"

"Go where?" the worms asked, antennae quivering in fear. "Too scared! Can't move!"

"Back to the ship, of course!" Jay watched the burning debris carefully. Her eyes flicked over to Cha'ron, who was gaping at her, stunned. "What?" Jay jumped to the worst conclusion possible… "Do I have something on my face?"

"Your…" Cha'ron swallowed her surprise, "your fire. It's…tinged with white. Like Fyre."

Jay glanced at her still glowing hands. _Well, so they are._ "Worry about it later! Just get out of here, before Alpha-"

"Too late!" Alpha snarled, bursting out of the debris, trench coat burnt to tatters.

_Thank goodness for that._ Jay mused. _It was quite a hideous trench coat._

Alpha didn't get very far – he was knocked back with another burst of white and blue flames. Jay glanced at the last place where she had seen the worms and Cha'ron, and was slightly annoyed to see that they were still there. "Dude! What are you waiting for? Go!"

Finally, Cha'ron was spurred into action, and herding the worms in front of her, the five left the smouldering alleyway behind.

_Good._ Jay turned her full attention to Alpha, who had just gotten up from the ground.

"You've caused quite the uproar, young lady." He tutted, as if he hadn't just been thrown into a wall. His back, however, disagreed strongly and voiced its opinion loudly.

Jay smirked smugly at the crack his back made when he straightened. "How's my aunt's floor? Is it still in pieces? Did she have an apoplectic fit?"

"Hm." Alpha shrugged, hurling a piece of burning debris in Jay's general direction. "Close enough."

Jay ducked to her left, and the debris piece missed. "Pity I missed it, then." She shrugged off her 'disappointment'. She threw two fireballs in quick succession, marvelling at the ease in calling up the fire. Then, before Alpha could recover, Jay stomped her foot into the ground, and reached into the planet, gathering up tendrils of Fyre.

Fyre leached up through the ground at Jay's command, and twisted together into a fiery firestorm, closing in on Alpha. Then, without looking back to check on the damage, Jay ran out of the alley way, and after her companions.

_Where'd they go?_ Jay wondered to herself.

_**Over to your left.**_ Fyre chimed in helpfully.

_Thanks-_ Jay nearly fell over in surprise. _Wait, you're back?_

_**You did just draw me out from Ignisia, didn't you?**_

_Point taken._

Jay didn't have to go far to find the worms and Cha'ron – surrounded by large shadowy entities that growled and had... claws.

_Wraiths._ Jay recognised the chill and threw another burst of bluey-white fire in their midst, warding them away from her friends. The wraiths screeched and scattered, before the darkness swirled together into one larger entity. One that towered over Jay by at least _**three metres.***_

"Jay!" One of the worms shrieked. "It's _big_!"

"Yeah, I noticed!" Jay yelled back, feeling the chill settle into her bones. How the worms were still standing was beyond her. "Run!"

Jay was vaguely aware of Ignisians scattering in fear as the large shadowy _thing_ (Jay mentally dubbed it as 'Mother-Of-All-Wraiths') thrashed in the narrow street, tearing loose bricks and roofing from the unfortunate buildings which were within claw distance. Jay knew that she wouldn't be able to beat the monster down by sheer brute force.

_Come on. Think, Edwards. Think._

As the Mother-Of-All-Wraiths howled in frustration at the narrow streets hampering its movement, an idea came to Jay.

_I've got an idea, Fyre._

_**Oh, dear. Does it involve chaos and property damage?**_

_You could say that._

There was a pause as Fyre read Jay's mind. _**Wait! It might not work-**_

Jay ignored the warnings of Fyre. She took a deep breath in, and used all her willpower in drawing out walls of fire that surrounded the creature, and closed in. The Mother-Of-All-Wraiths let out an even louder wail, and cringed away from the fire. All would have gone well, if it weren't for Alpha. His tentacles slammed Jay into a nearby wall, and she crumpled to the ground.

And the fire raged out of control.

#MIB#

_Beep-beep. Beep-beep._

Elle blinked awake, and fumbled to turn the alarm off. "Computer? What time is it?"

"Twelve-oh-one by earth time."

Elle stretched and yawned. "How many days 'till Jay is eighteen?"

"I believe today is the day."

"Today?!" Elle repeated, suddenly awake. "It's today?" With a grunt, Elle struggled to free herself from the tree, and nearly plummeted to the bottom, if it weren't for her quick reflexes.

Her Ignisian guide had his head cocked to one side, and was regarding her with a look of amusement. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes," Elle dropped to the bottom of the tree in a more controlled descent, "I've got to find my friends. How far to the edge of the forest?"

"We are on the edge." The Ignisian nodded at a tree just a few paces away. "The forest ends here."

"Oh." Elle realised stupidly, as she caught a glimpse of dry sand just beyond the tree. "Right. Thank you for your help."

The Ignisian inclined his head in acknowledgement of her gratitude. "Please take care of your friend. I believe she is of some value."

At these cryptic words, the Ignisian turned away, and disappeared into the jungle.

Elle spent a few seconds staring in bemusement, before she shook herself. "Computer? How far are we to the MIB ship?"

"Approximately three kilometres. With your walking speed, ETA is in thirty-six minutes."

"Three kilometres?" Elle sighed. Trekking three kilometres across open desert after a day-and-night walk in a rainforest was not an appealing thought, especially considering that she hadn't eaten or drunk anything in a long time. "Might as well get started."

#MIB#

The fire licked up the walls of the street, greedily consuming the dried plant roofing. When Jay awoke, the first thing she saw was the normal colour of orange and red flames burning. The next thing she saw (or rather, what she didn't see) was that the Uber-Wraith was nowhere in sight.

She winced at the throbbing in her head and stumbled away from the narrow street, avoiding the little impromptu campfires along it. As she walked, she could feel her strength draining. Jay ignored it, and would have continued walking, if she hadn't run into Alpha yet again.

"Alpha." Jay groaned. _Just how many times do I need to run into you?_ She gathered up a fireball-

Only to have it sputter out of existence.

_What's going on?_ Jay panicked. _Aren't I supposed to be at my peak? Why isn't it…?_

"It would seem," Alpha smiled nastily, "that you've run out of power."

A tentacle swiped at Jay, and she let out a yelp of terror. Instinct kicked back in, and a completely blue fireball streamed through the air towards Alpha. However, it was nowhere near as large as her previous ammunition, and neither was it strong. It was a pathetic excuse for a fireball that didn't even meet its target.

Jay gulped nervously as she looked back at Alpha and slowly backed away. _Fyre? I could really do with some help, preferably now!_

There wasn't even a whisper from Fyre.

Alpha grinned at her fear. "My turn."

Jay cursed that this happened to be one of the times that Zeeltor had been wrong, and miscalculated.

#MIB#

QUITE A WHILE LATER

Left. Right. Left. Right.

Repeat, add nauseam.

Not having any sort of nourishment was taking its toll.

"Take a step to your left." Zeeltor 2.0 advised, and Elle obeyed, feeling not unlike a zombie. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly started drooling while groaning about brains. And then it was back to the mantra of _Left-Right-Left-Right_.

At least, that was what she thought until she ran face first into the hull of the MiB ship.

_Ouch._ Elle blinked in surprise. _Oh. I made it._ It was then that she noticed she wasn't alone. She licked her lips, and swallowed, in an attempt to gather some moisture for articulating words. The object of her surprise waited patiently. Finally, Elle found her voice.

"Who in the name of Halley's Comet are you?" Elle asked sweetly. She gave her question another thought. "No, scratch that – how did you manage to find the ship?"

Cha'ron gazed back unblinkingly, and briefly wondered if it was customary for all humans to creep the living daylights out of everyone they met. Maybe it was only a friends-of-Jabbanoyoda thing. "My name's not important-"

Elle rolled her eyes. The whole Name-Not-Important thing was starting to grate on her nerves.

"-but if you really must know, these guys led me here." With that, Cha'ron pointed behind her with a flourish.

Elle wasn't even surprised to see the Worms smiling and waving guiltily at her. "I thought you boys were supposed to stay inside."

Before the worms could delve into a longwinded (and mostly fake) story about their little excursion, the hatch of the MiB ship hissed open, and Kay stood in the doorway, looking mildly unimpressed with the Worms.

"They were." He remarked wryly.

"Key word being 'were'?" Elle suggested, just as derisively.

Kay didn't comment. Instead, he focused on the Worms. "Anything of importance happen?"

"Yeah, Jay's gonna be executed tomorrow-"  
"And Alpha's there as well-"  
"And she was wearing a Jedi cloak-"  
"No lightsaber, though."

Kay raised an eyebrown at Elle. Elle shrugged. _Don't look at me. I wasn't there._

Cha'ron sighed, drawing attention of the two agents to herself. "What they mean is," she waved a hand at the Worms, "Jabbanoyoda's going to challenge the Empress tomorrow, and if she wins, she'll be able to overthrow the Empress. And I assume Alpha's the man with the…"

"Extra appendages?" Elle supplied helpfully.

"That'd be him." Cha'ron nodded.

Kay nearly buried his face into his hands – he would have, if he wasn't wearing the space suit. _Leave it to Jay to overthrow the local government_… _Wait. Jabbanoyoda?_ Kay's thought process was derailed completely, as the absurdness of the name hit him. _What in the Galaxy is that supposed to mean?_

It appeared that Elle was more informed in science fiction films than Kay was. "Jabbanoyoda? Really?"

One of the Worms nodded sagely. "That's exactly what I said too."

"Well," Elle began casually, "that's really nice and all, but please excuse me while I go and pass out in the ship from sheer exhaustion." However, Elle's body had other plans. She didn't quite make it to the ship.

It was a good thing that X was ready to catch her.

* * *

_***Three metres = approx. 9 feet**_


	9. Chapter 9 Plan

_**Wotcher, folks. Early chapter because I'll be too busy tomorrow**__**. Enjoy, and I hope I'm not boring you guys.**_

* * *

**Plan**

Jay limped, and hissed when her right ankle protested.

"You," Alpha growled hatefully, "have nothing to complain about."

Jay merely poked her tongue at him, and Alpha scowled.

Even though Jay had lost her fire powers, Alpha had found out the hard way that she was more than capable of dishing out a worthy fight – namely, one that culminated with him waking up in the remains of a wall, only to find Jay waiting impatiently, tapping her left foot (her right had refused to cooperate).

"Took you long enough to wake up." was the first thing she said to him. It was quickly followed by "Are you going to move or what?"

And he had grudgingly moved from the rubble pile, narrowly avoiding a falling wooden beam. Rather than being fazed by his narrow escape, he mentally grumbled at the _idiots_ who had decided that _wood_ was a good idea in a city full of _fiery_, _burning_, and not to mention _impulsive_ aliens.

Did he mention how much he hated the idiotic architects?

And now they were both limping back to the palace of the Empress of previously mentioned idiots.

Not for the first time on this trip, Alpha briefly pondered his mental wellbeing. Maybe the long years under mind control had finally gotten to him. A small, dispassionate part of him (Alpha suspected it was Agent A) noted that it was more likely that Jay's happy-go-lucky attitude had rubbed off on him.

He didn't know which was worse.

#MIB#

Jay sighed, and stared up at the (thankfully) stone roof of the small cell. Understandably, when Araminta had seen her niece again, all she had done was take a deep breath (Jay fantasied about Araminta choking on a passing by fly) and said in a stiff tone "Dungeon. I don't want to see her again until tomorrow."

If Araminta had indeed choked on a bug which had the misfortune of being within range, Jay wasn't sure if she would have sniggered at the sight, or torn out her hair in frustration that all it took was a simple bug to defeat the oh-so-nasty Empress.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Jay's hair, that particular event never came to pass, and Jay was left in the stone dungeons of the palace.

And then more important matters came to mind. Like how her fire powers were dead. (_Well, deadish. _Jay conceded.) Jay unsuccessfully tried to resist the urge to lift her head up and let it drop with a loud thump. It did not mean that she didn't regret it, though.

_Great. Now I've got a headache too._

_**And you only have yourself to blame for that.**_

Jay sat up with a start, before surprise turned to annoyance. _Now you show up. Couldn't you have done it earlier?_

_**Not my fault you nearly drained yourself.**_ Fyre shot back, with the same degree of testiness.

_Oh, for crying out-_ Jay shook her head. _Look, I don't have time to argue with you. If I don't get my fire powers back, I'm going to be toast tomorrow. Literally._

_**I know.**_ Fyre let out a breathy, mental sigh. _**Which is why I am going to help you, goodness knows why, though. With your stupidity, I'm surprised you've survived this long.**_ Its exasperation was apparent.

_But you love me anyway._ Jay grinned cheekily. _Because I'm the only one who's fit to be queen, right?_

_**Unfortunately. Now, get onto the ground.**_

Jay frowned into the darkness, before she shrugged off her confusion. It couldn't hurt to try, unless Fyre somehow managed to find a way to dig a large chunk of her dignity off from the middle of the planet.

Nonchalance turned to surprise when Jay felt that the stones of the floor were warm, instead of the icy coldness she had felt when she first walked (was thrown in) to the cell.

_How…?_

Fyre turned into full lecture-mode. _**A long, long time ago, these cells were not designed to torment those who resided within. The prisoners were to live in these cells at prolonged exposure to me. You see, I have a purifying property. Unfortunately, this seems to have been long forgotten.**_

_You used the word 'long' for, like, four times._

Fyre let out a mental breathy sigh of exasperation. _**You have the attention span of a gnat.**_

Jay rolled her eyes. _For your information, I was paying attention. Now, what did you mean by purifying property?_

_**There is darkness in all of us, Jay-**_

Jay sniggered. _Ugh. Definitely a Star Wars rip-off._

_**What?**_

_Oh, nothing. Do go on._

If Fyre had a corporeal form, Jay knew it would have been scrutinizing her suspiciously. _**As I was saying, there is darkness in everyone. I guess you may say that I am the light that keeps it at bay. But as you can see, I am no longer strong enough to do this by myself.**_

_And…?_ Jay prompted, not liking where this was headed.

_**I am going need your help. So, to make things clear, I will help you regain your fire powers, and you will, in turn, help me.**_

Jay didn't like the way Fyre said 'help me'. It sounded too much like a shady deal made in a dark alleyway. _You know, now's usually the time where I run out screaming. But I can't – the cell door's locked._

_**Oh, don't worry, **_Fyre suddenly sounded a bit like Jaime, _**I don't need you to do anything big – just pull me up through the planet when I tell you to.**_

Jay sighed. It wasn't as if she had any other options. _Fine. Tell me what to do._

_**Lie down on the stone. I will flow through the stones and to you.**_

Jay lay down on the warm stones, and found that it was more comfortable than the bench. Suddenly, a jolt of warmth rushed through her, and Jay relaxed. _Huh. Just like a battery being recharged._

_**In layman's terms, yes.**_

For a long time, silence reigned in the cell, and Jay found the gentle glow of the stones to be almost hypnotic. Just as Jay nearly drifted off to sleep, a small worrying thought wormed its way into her head. _Wait. How am I supposed to fight Araminta tomorrow?_

_**Don't worry. **_Fyre soothed. _**I have a plan.**_

Jay allowed herself to sink into the depths of sleep, and dreamed of murals, of large bonfires, and of coffee mugs with sarcastic personalities.

#MIB#

Elsewhere, a certain group assembled within the MiB ship were not getting a wink of sleep. (Except for Elle, who was still out cold in the small sleeping quarters.)

"This sucks." X decided finally.

Cha'ron nodded in agreement. "I know. We only have a few more hours before Jabba's executed."

"I don't suppose anyone has any ideas?" Rex glanced around at the seven others in the cockpit. "And coffee is _not_ a solution." He added, when he saw one of the worms opening his mouth to speak. _Probably Sleeble. Or Neeble. Or Gleeble. Or Gordy._ Rex sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. All the worms looked identical to him.

Sleeble was silent for a moment, then he offered as a half joke "We could infiltrate the palace under the guise of wearing brown cloaks."

Kay shot the worm a glare, and Sleeble wilted under his gaze.

"We're out of options." Kay spoke up finally.

X, on the other hand, perked up slightly. If Kay said that they were out of options, chances were he was about to let loose a crazy idea which would more than likely work. "You've got a plan, haven't you?"

"No." Kay admitted. "Not one that would work, anyway."

"Spill. Tell me anyway." X drooped again. "It's gotta be better than training an army of Sarquokkas."

To X's surprise, Kay looked sheepish. At least, as sheepish as Kay could manage to look.

"Oh, crap." X buried his face in despair. "You're going to say 'wing it', aren't you?"

Except it came out more like "Or go to ay in it, unt oo?"

"I assume you said 'wing it'." Kay quirked his eyebrow, an expression that looked much more at home than the sheepishness did. "I was actually going to say that you and Elle stay on the ship to man the Compound Blue detonators."

X's head shot up, and he frowned at the human. "Don't you remember what Elle said about-"

"I remember." Kay held up a hand to forestall X's arguments. "I know. But it'll be a back-up plan."

"An in-case-all-else-fails plan?" Cha'ron's green flames brightened in understanding.

"Yep." Kay confirmed.

"Well, what'll they be doing?" X waved a hand at the Worms.

"Staying out of the way." K shot a stern look at the aliens in question.

Greeble had the audacity to smile, and X shook his head in exasperation. "What will you be doing, then?" he asked Kay.

Kay got up from the cockpit chair, stretched, and slapped a MiB Standard Issue Watch onto his wrist.

"Winging it."

_**Next: A long awaited fight, and Jay is determined to be rude to her only living relative.**_


	10. Chapter 10 Bring It On

_**Author's Notes: We're almost up to the last chapter, and the long anticipated fight finally happens.**_

* * *

**Bring It On**

Jay heard the faint roar of the crowd. As she was led through the tunnel stretching to the side of the arena, she couldn't help but compare it to the Colosseum.

Alpha stopped when they reached a platform, and turned to look at Jay with an odd expression – a mix between pity and admiration. "Well…"

"Well indeed." Jay gave him a wry grin. "Save the sappy goodbyes for later, Alphie."

Alpha rolled his eyes. _How typical of Jay. _"I suppose you do have a master plan of some sort. You don't seem worried at all."

Alpha and Jay stepped onto the platform, and it rose slowly up to the surface.

"You could say that…" _I've got no plan whatsoever._ Jay studied the mineral that made the platform. _Mosterlite._ Jay grinned as she recognised the speckled and polished black rock.

At last, the platform shifted into place, and Jay took her first look at the arena. It was oval in shape, with a pit in the centre. Accurately speaking, it was more of a large hole. A small blaze of white Fyre burned at the bottom of the shear drop.

Jay was right – it was just like the Colosseum. "Geez." She muttered, not quite loud enough for Alpha to hear. "Copycat much?"

Empress Araminta was seated on the front seats directly in front of her. "Any last words before you die?"

Jay glowered. It was annoying – for the small fraction of time when Araminta spoke, the crowd had fallen silent in a surprisingly fast manner. Now that the Empress had finished speaking, the crowd had started up again, and Jay knew her voice wouldn't be able to reach her Aunt. There was something very annoying about Araminta's expression, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. _What is it? Oh - that's right._ Jay realised that it was the utterly smug smile.

Araminta waited, and watched Jay.

Jay knew that if she tried to shout out her answer, the words would probably be lost in the crowd. So she settled with a gesture. It was surprising how much meaning and hatred could go into one finger.

Araminta raised an eyebrow at the human gesture. First off, she had no idea what it meant, although judging by the smirk on Jay's face, she guessed it was rude. The identical smirk on Alpha's face confirmed her suspicions. Worse still, he looked as he was fighting the urge to laugh.

_Uncouth savages._ Araminta sighed. She made a small gesture with her hand, an uncaring, flippant movement, and Jay found herself flanked by guards. Silently, they took Jay by her arms and dragged her towards the centre of the arena, where it dipped downwards into a pit of cold, white Fyre.

**It's time.** Fyre whispered, nudging her to action.

In response, Jay wrenched herself free from the guards, and yelled at Araminta, who had risen out of her seat. "I challenge you!"

The crowd fell silent.

_Booyah._ Jay did a mental dance of victory._ Who knew it would only take three words?_

_**Focus.**_

"Right." Jay muttered under her breath, before raising her voice again. "I challenge you! I challenge you as your last living relative for being Empress of Ignisia!"

The crowd listened with baited breath.

"I challenge you, Empress Araminta, for one-on-one combat!" _Yeah, that's right. Take that, bitch!_

All eyes swiveled to Araminta, and watched. Waiting.

Two frigid words answered. "I accept."

#MIB#

Two minutes later, Jay was singing a completely different tune.

_Oh, she's good._ Jay ducked and rolled as another barrage of red _burning_ flames scorched the sand of the arena. Memories of Fyre's words echoed across Jay's mind.

_You have to mean it. You really have to want to kill. Or else they won't feel the burn. It'll just be like a bunch of flies encircling a bison. Annoying, but useless._

Jay and Araminta flitted across the arena, ducking and diving, weaving an intricate dance of blue and red across the sandy floor. There was almost a pattern to their fighting, one that reminded Jay too much of friendly sparring with Kay.

All thoughts of similarities left Jay when one red burst of flames scorched too close for comfort. This wasn't a sparring match. It was a fight to the finish, a _may-the-best-Ignisian-win-and-the-worst-get-their-butt-kicked_ sort of fight. Jay ducked to the side again, and narrowly avoided becoming charcoal.

All the time, Jay could feel her power slipping away even as she reached for Fyre in the centre of the arena. Over the journey of getting to Ignisia, the fiasco with the worms, and the startling realisation that Kay was probably on the planet, Jay had somehow managed to keep track of how many earth days it had been, despite the yellow sun that seemed to shine eternally. Night was a foreign concept here.

_I'm probably already officially an adult._ Of course, it didn't help that Zeeltor had miscalculated her peak, and was off by a day.

Jay gritted her teeth, and propelled herself off the ground with a well-timed blast of blue flames, barely vaulting over the wall of fire her aunt sent at her. Said aunt was gaping at Jay in surprise. Apparently, she hadn't seen anyone use fire for flight before. Quite frankly, Jay was surprised she had enough firepower for flight.

_You have to mean it._

Jay kept Fyre's advice in mind and mustered up as much _hate_ and_ anger_ she could, and sent a blue bolt of fire down at her only living relative.

Unprepared, the blast caught Araminta squarely in the back, and was sent sprawling into the dust where she laid motionless.

Jay landed lightly on her feet, and watched Araminta warily.

_You have to mean it._

Unfortunately, Jay didn't.

Araminta sprang up with a speed that should have been impossible for her age and retaliated with one large crimson fireball.

"Ugh!" _It burns!_ It was Jay's turn to spend some quality time in the sand. Gingerly, she sat up, and was thankful for Zeeltor's heat proof suit. If it hadn't been invented, Jay suspected that she would no longer be in existence.

Well, she would. But probably as a piece of burnt human.

Araminta, in the meantime, had gotten closer. "You really are weak after all." She placed a hand on her hip and gazed down at her niece contemplatively. "Did you ever manage to meet your clone?" Without waiting for an answer, Araminta continued. "I believe she'd have been able to create a nice inferno. Much better than your pathetic attempt." She smirked when Jay propped herself up shakily. "Look at you," Araminta cooed, "so weak. Pathetic. Useless."

Ignoring the tearing pain in her arms and hands, Jay staggered to her feet, hands already glowing with blue wisps. "No, I'm not." Was all she said before re-entering the fight, with dogged determination. She would _not_ let Araminta win, peak or no.

Araminta seemed to have gained confidence from Jay's failure in creating a lasting burn. She swerved out of the way of another blue fireball. "What can you possibly do?" she questioned innocently, the tone of voice ruined by the malevolent glint in her eyes. "You've clearly proven yourself to be incapable of killing me." She finished her sentence with another blast of fire, one that Jay's back took the brunt of. Araminta smiled in satisfaction as Jay finally screamed in a mixture of pain and frustration.

However, when Jay managed to defy gravity yet again and pulled herself back onto her feet, her eyes had an almost mischievous spark.

"More than one way to skin a cat." Jay informed her aunt of an earth idiom as a stream of fire followed the motion of her hands.

Araminta didn't even need to duck - Jay's aim was off by at least two metres. "That the best you can do-" Araminta's taunt broke off mid-sentence as something behind her _exploded_. Large chunks of the Mosterlite platform slammed against Araminta's back.

Araminta grunted in pain as she took in the sight of Jay copying the pose she had just been in earlier – hand resting on hip, and a superior smirk threatening to appear.

"You know," Jay drawled, "that's exactly what my clone said before-" Jay broke off, the short triumphant moment fizzling away as she remembered what happened after the Clone had said that. _Hm. Maybe I shouldn't mention that I got the stuffing beaten out of me._

**Focus.**Fyre whispered urgently.

Jay blinked away the soft voice and looked down at Araminta, a familiar pit of coldness settling in her stomach.

"Come to me!" Araminta commanded. Shadows rolled in from the tunnels, and some even rose up from the ground. Jay took a step back in alarm, and her horror was mirrored by the spectators, if the screams and gasps were any indication.

Araminta gathered the Shadows around her, and they melded into her, turning her into a dark, chilling presence.

An unearthly wail pierced the air, and Jay recognised the sound immediately. "Wraiths." Jay groaned, as the creatures of Shadows bounded and leapt into the arena, snarling and growling, no doubt summoned by their _beloved_ empress, "Not _again_."

_Oh, man._ Jay lit up with blue flames, and closed her eyes, reaching out with her senses. _Phosphorus and oxygen. Phosphorus and oxygen. Remember what the doc told you._

Jay could feel the faint protests of Fyre, trying to tell her something- Jay froze. A familiar presence had caught her attention. _There!_ A lone blue light twinkled in the sea of yellow.

_Kay?_

Jay payed dearly for her momentary loss of concentration. A nearby wraith swooped, and sharp claws sliced across her right arm, drawing blood. Jay hissed, clutching her arm. She could already feel the cold numbness spreading. Jay gasped as another wave of ice rolled through her.

"That was easier than I thought." Araminta's voice had an odd echo to it. "It does prove one thing, though."

Wearily, Jay looked up, waiting for an answer.

"Dark is stronger than light after all."

#MIB#

Kay hid another wince as another tendril of Shadow whipped out at Jay, and slammed her into the ground.

_Jay! _Every instinct was telling him to run out there, and help her, but there was nothing he could do, not with Alpha still on the lookout.

_Jay, don't you dare give up on me._

#MIB#

**Come to me.** **I can help you. **Fyre broke through the haze of pain.

_How?_ Jay sent back.

**Come to the centre.**

Jay looked up at Araminta, who was standing between her and the pit in the centre of the arena. Araminta pulled her hand back, and a strip of Shadow mimicked her movement. _Okay, Edwards._ Jay took a deep breath._ You've got to time this perfectly._

In a last burst of quickly dwindling strength, Jay shot forwards, propelled by an oxygen blast, and narrowly avoided her surprised aunt. Jay slammed her feet into the sand, and she stopped just short of the edge of the pit. Pivoting on the spot, Jay looked at Araminta, who was advancing quickly.

**Be one with me.** The flames of Fyre danced invitingly behind Jay.

"Stop!" For some reason, a look of panic had spread over Araminta's face. "You have no idea what you're about to do!"

Jay looked over her shoulder and down at Fyre, before looking back at Araminta. A ghost of a smile graced her features. "No argument there." Then she stepped back into empty air, and fell eagle-spread down.

#MIB#

Kay's grip on the railing had tightened, his knuckles whitening with every hit Jay took. One final blow knocked the woman to the ground, and this time, she stayed down.

_No-_

Kay's panicked train of thought was derailed when Jay suddenly shot forwards, and stopped abruptly at the centre of the arena. She was standing dangerously close to the edge of the pit.

_Jay, what are you doing?!_ Kay leapt to his feet, heart in throat, as his ex-partner simply stepped off the edge and into the pit.

#MIB#

Fyre wrapped around Jay, enveloping her small form.

Fyre was all around her, then-

No, Fyre was Jay.

Jay was Fyre.

They were one.

#MIB#

Araminta's eyes widened in disbelief as Jay rose out of the pit, Fyre licking at the edges of her body. Gone were the blue flames.

Jay – or was it Fyre now? – landed softly on the ground, light pulsating out from her. The darkness that Araminta had wielded with such skill before fled. Araminta grasped desperately at the vaporising Shadows futilely. Jay stepped closer and closer, light burning brighter with each step.

"Rulers are benevolent." It was a mix of Jay's voice and the chorus of whispers that Fyre spoke through.

"They lead civilisations to prosperity." Bright, white Fyre surged through the sand, surrounding Araminta from all directions.

"They never turn to darkness."

The red fireballs bounced harmlessly off the white walls closing in on Araminta.

"You have ruled Ignisia in a dictatorship, Araminta." Jay stepped closer still, accusation coating her words. "You have led Ignisia to ruin. You have turned to the Shadows."

"And you are not fit to be empress!" The last words escalated into a shout, and Fyre surged forwards, determined to wipe out the pest that had plagued Ignisia-

And suddenly, it all stopped. The walls parted, long enough for a white, flickering figure to step into the circle. The flames of the figure shifted, and Jay stumbled out, the fiery figure still standing behind her. It tilted its head, and observed Jay.

Plain, old, simple Jay. No Fyre. No blue flames. Just Jay.

"Come to gloat?" Araminta spat scornfully. "Here to say 'I told you so'?"

"No." Jay whispered, but the empress of Ignisia heard every word clearly. Pity flickered in Jay's eyes. "Let it go, Araminta. Let go of the Shadows." She beseeched her aunt. "Don't let it end like this."

"Never."

Jay let out a breath slowly, and stepped back into her fiery copy. "So be it." Araminta was going to die.

**No, not death.** Fyre told Jay gently. Before she could ponder on the sentence, the flames of Fyre surged forward and entombed Araminta in a ball of light.

For a moment, everything was suspended, all held their breaths, and the ball of light pulsated. Once. Twice-

And then, it _exploded._ There was no other word to describe it. One second, the dark presence that was Araminta was there, then it _wasn't._ Waves of light shimmered from the place where Araminta had last stood, and then it rushed outwards, washing over everything, purifying everyone.

Everywhere it touched, _life_ sprung out. Barren landscapes were now filled with greenery, for the first time in centuries.

And Jay finally understood.

Fyre wasn't death. It didn't destroy. It didn't burn.

It was life. It healed. It was the promise of a rebirth.

And Ignisia had been reborn.

#MIB#

Zed blinked awake. For a few moments, he stared into the darkness of the cell, wondering what exactly had woken him, before turning over with a yawn. If his mind was more awake, he would have realised that his mind felt lighter than it had been for weeks.

But for tonight, sleep was more important.

_**Up next: Tying up loose ends, and goodbyes need to be said.**_


End file.
